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Brick priest trial: Sex assault or tall tale?
By Kathleen Hopkins
TOMS RIVER – Did a popular parish priest take advantage of a trust to molest a mother and her two children, or did the family concoct the story for financial reasons? Those were two scenarios presented to a jury Wednesday as Marukudiyil Velan, known to parishioners at the Church of the Visitation in Brick as “Father Chris,’’ went on trial on molestation charges. “We’re here today because there was a shattering of trust,” Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Terry Ann Linardakis told the jury. “We’re here today because Mr. Velan took advantage of the relationship he had with this family and touched them inappropriately.’’ But defense attorney S. Karl Mohel, referring to the defendant throughout his opening argument as Father Chris, said his client is innocent, and his accusers have financial motives for falsely accusing him. The mother had previously borrowed thousands of dollars from Velan to buy a car, Mohel said. Now, he said, she has filed a lawsuit against Velan, Visitation Church and the Archdiocese of Trenton. “This is a family that was getting day-old Tasty Cakes,’’ Mohel said, explaining that Velan would go around to a local baked good store to pick up day-old products and deliver them to poor families in his parish, including his accusers. Linardakis alleged a number of incidents in which Velan is accused of molesting the mother, her then-13-year-old son, and then-5-year-old daughter in 2012. The prosecutor said the first incident occurred sometime in April 2012 when Velan took the boy to eat at McDonald’s, and the priest reached over and touched him inappropriately while stopped at a red light in the car. The boy went home and told his mother, and the family distanced themselves from Velan for awhile, until July of that year, when Velan started coming around again, Linardakis said. On July 13, Velan went to the family’s house in Brick, which is nearby the church, to take them out to eat, the assistant prosecutor said. Instead, the family decided to order a pizza, she said. While the 5-year-old girl was sitting on Velan’s lap at the house, he began rubbing against her and touched her inappropriately, Linardakis said. Then, he again molested the boy before going over to the children’s mother and grabbing her breast, the assistant prosecutor told the jury. The family went with Velan to pick up the pizza, and when they were returning to family’s home, Velan allegedly molested the mother again as she was reaching to put her key in the door, Linardakis said. Mohel said the family suddenly came forward with the allegations after being friends with the priest for more than two years. For two years, Velan was bringing them day-old Tasty Cakes, he said. This was not a family that was being sexually abused by Velan, Mohel insisted. This was how Mohel summarized the state’s allegations: “It was touching in April, with no witnesses, that didn’t appear to be taken seriously, and then this three-ring circus where everybody but the family dog was a victim.’’ Mohel said if the allegations are true, then after Velan molested the girl and boy and their mother, “they all decided they’re going to hop in Father Chris’ car and go down to Pizza Hut because they don’t want to waste the pizza.’’ Linardakis said Velan would apologize to the mother the following day in a phone call that was taped after she went to the police with the allegations. Linardakis said Velan changed his story while being questioned by detectives from denying having touched the children to saying that he may have inadvertently touched them. “You’re going to see a man who has difficulty with the English language being asked the same questions 25 times, being screamed at by the officers,’’ Mohel countered. The taped phone call was played in court during the mother’s testimony. On it, she confronted Velan about molesting her and her children. Velan many times responded, “My God,’’ in an incredulous tone and denied touching the children. Then, when she confronted him about touching her breast, he said, “Yea, alright. I’m sorry. How many years now we’re friends?’’ The mother testified that they went together to pick up the pizza because she wanted to get Velan out of her house. But, she said, when they returned with the pizza, he came back into the house. “He had one slice of pizza, and he said, ‘I have to go now, I have things to do,’ ” the mother testified. Earlier, her son, now 15, told the jury about the incident in April, while he was riding in the car with Velan, on the way to McDonald’s. “He reached over and put his hand on my jewels,’’ the boy testified, saying the incident occurred when they were stopped at a red light. When Mohel asked the boy how long they were stopped at the red light, he responded, “Maybe 10 minutes.’’ About 20 parishioners sat in the courtroom during the testimony to support Velan. “He’s the most loving, humble, caregiving person,’’ said one of them, Angela D’Ambola, 86, of Brick. “From young to old, they all just love him.’’ Velan is charged with one count of sexual assault and three counts each of criminal sexual contact and child endangerment. He is free on bail. The trial, before Superior Court Judge James M. Blaney, is expected to resume Thursday.
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