Jurors deliberating fate of Ocean County priest charged with sexual assault

By Rob Spahr
NJ.com
October 15, 2014

http://www.nj.com/ocean/index.ssf/2014/10/jurors_deliberating_fate_of_ocean_county_priest.html

A street view of the Church of the Visitation in Brick. The church's priest has been charged with sexual contact.

TOMS RIVER – The fate of a Brick priest on trial for molestation charges could come down to a video tape.

A jury in the trial of Marukudiyil Velan, of the Church of the Visitation in Brick, asked Ocean County Superior Court Judge James Blaney on Tuesday to watch a videotape again on which, prosecutors claim, the priest admits to improperly touching a mother and her two children in 2012, the Asbury Park Press reported.

However, Velan's defense attorney argues that maintains detectives badgered, cursed at and manipulated Velan until he confessed, the newspaper reported.

Velan, 66, better known as "Father Chris" in the Brick parish, has been a adjunct priest at the Church of the Visitation in Brick since 2001. A garden at the church is named after him.

In July 2012, Velan was charged with sexual assault and three counts of child endangerment after he allegedly grabbed a 13-year-old boy's genitals and fondled the boy's mother's breast during a visit at the family's home. He also allegedly molested the boy's 5-year-old sister, the Asbury Park Press reported.

Toms River defense attorney S. Karl Mohel told jurors that in the two years the family was acquainted with the priest, he became "a source of funds."

Mohel said the mother already had borrowed thousands of dollars from Velan to purchase a car and now mother and her boyfriend wanted to buy a house, which he said would be helped by proceeds from a civil lawsuit filed by the family against the priest, church and Diocese of Trenton, the Asbury Park Press reported.

In addition to the videotape, the jurors heard testimony from the mother and the boy during the trial, but not the girl. They also listened to a recording of a telephone call between the mother and Velan during which the allegations were discussed, the newspaper reported.

Velan did not testify.

The woman and her children were parishioners of the church, authorities said.