MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By Joel Currier St. Louis Post-Dispatch
TROY, MO. • The Rev. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang testified Friday that he never kissed on the mouth, sexually abused nor groomed a teenage girl over an 18-month relationship with her and her family.
But the priest did acknowledge that he sent hundreds of texts and emails expressing his love for them, and, in one instance, left the family a $20,000 check as well as an apology.
The 31-year-old Catholic priest’s testimony Friday in a Lincoln County courtroom was his first public response to abuse allegations that first surfaced five years ago. He is on trial this and next week in a civil suit accusing him of molesting the teen during a June 2012 a visit to her home in Old Monroe and in the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica rectory parking lot after Sunday Mass. At the time, Jiang was an associate pastor there.
Jiang emphatically denied on Friday ever having inappropriate contact with the teenager.
“They were my family,” Jiang said on the stand Friday. “I was very close to the [girl’s] family. I would do anything to help them.”
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