Verdict in Kottiyoor rape case today

KANNUR

: The additional district sessions court in Thalassery, the designated court for cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, will pronounce on Saturday its verdict against a priest accused of raping a minor girl.

The case had gained notoriety as the survivor and all key witnesses in the case, including her parents, had turned hostile, while the prosecution depended on hospital and municipal records in its attempt to prove the accused guilty. Robin Vadakkancheril, a former priest of the St Sebastian Church, at Neendunoki, near

Kottiyoor

in the district, has been accused of raping a minor girl in May 2016, following which she delivered a baby in the Christu Raj Hospital in Koothuparamba, run by the church, on February 7, 2017.

Though the baby was shifted to the Holy Infant Mary's Foundling Home, at Vythiri in Wayanad, which was also run by the church, the information was somehow leaked and the Childline in the district got an anonymous call, following which it conducted a probe. On February 28, on his way to Nedumbassery airport, Vadakkancheril was arrested.

Vadakkancheril allegedly tried to influence the survivor and hush up the incident and efforts were taken even to implicate the girl's father. Though Vadakkancheril admitted that he had sexual relationship with the girl, he claimed that the she was a major at the time. Though the prosecution produced her birth certificate, the defendant and the survivor argued that it was not a conclusive evidence. The girl even said that she was two years older than claimed by the prosecution.

The other accused in the case are: Tessy Jose, a gynaecologist at the Christu Raj Hospital, Ancy Mathew, a hospital administrator and

Hyder Ali

, a paediatrician at the hospital, Sr Ophelia, the superintendent of the Holy Infant Mary's Girls Home, two nuns from a convent at Kallumutti, near Iritty-Sr Anitta and Sr Liz Maria, Thomas Joseph Therakam and and Betty Jose, members of the Wayanad Child Welfare Committee.