WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com
WORCESTER — The Rev. Donald J. Peters, associate pastor of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral at the time, said he was “stupefied” by what he was hearing.
“I didn’t know what to make of it. I wanted to make believe it didn’t happen,” he said from the witness stand yesterday in Central District Court.
What Rev. Peters reported hearing from inside the office of the church’s pastor, Rev. Charles Michael Abdelahad, on that afternoon in 2008, was the voice of “Father Michael” screaming profanities at someone, a woman pleading, “Please stop. You’re hurting me. Stop. I want out of here” and what sounded like someone slamming their hand on a desk.
On two prior occasions, he said, he had heard Rev. Abdelahad shouting profanities in his office after he had gone to the church on Anna Street to check his mail. But this time, he said, he also heard the voice of a frightened woman and he went into the office to investigate.
Upon entering, he said, he saw a woman curled up in a fetal position in a chair, shaking and “sobbing hysterically.”
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