UK Buddhist chief convicted of sex abuse

Chief Sanghanayaka Thera of Great Britain Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Child Abuse

Colombo Telegraph (June 5, 2012) via The Buddhist Channel; Wisdom Quarterly

Sri Lankan chief monk convicted of sex abuse

LONDON, England - The Chief Monastic Order Elder of Great Britain and abbot of the Thames Buddhist Vihara has been convicted of four counts of indecent assault on a underage and sentenced to seven years in prison, a judge ruled [June 5, 2012].

   

He is also banned for working with children for life and his name is added to sex offenders register, a court spokesman told The Colombo Telegraph.

   

Venerable Pahalagama Somaratana, 65, of Dulverton Road, Croydon was convicted at Isleworth Crown Court on May 1 of four counts of indecent assault on a female under 16 between January 1, 1977 and December 31, 1978 at an address in Chiswick.

   

He was found not guilty of the rape of a female under 16 between January 1,1977 and December 31, 1978 at an address in Chiswick and not guilty of indecent assault on a female under 14 between January 1, 1985 and December 31, 1986 at an address in Croydon.

• [This is even more serious because it is absolutely a breach of monastic disciplinary rules, which means that if penetration happened -- whether or not he was convicted of it or even charged -- he has committed a grave "defeat" offense (parajika) and is instantly not a monk and not part of the Order. In addition, he has discredited the Buddha's message (Dharma), Theravada Buddhism, the Male Monastic Order (Bhikkhu Sangha), Sri Lanka (his country of origin), and celibate Buddhist monasticism.]
• Sri Lankan Buddhist monk beat 14-year-old Catholic student for refusing to learn Buddhism

In May 2010 Child Abuse Investigation Command officers began an investigation into historical allegations of indecent assault and rape. On Tuesday, 14 September 2010 a (then) 64-year-old monk was arrested on suspicion of an historical indecent assault and rape. He was questioned at Heathrow police station and later bailed pending further enquiries.

 

He was charged on September 12, 2011 and further charged on  November 11, 2011.

  

On Friday, September 23 Pahalagama Somaratana appeared on bail at Feltham Magistrates’ Court charged with rape of female under 16 between January 1, 1977 and December 31, 1978 at an address in Chiswick and indecent assault on a female under 16 between January 1, 1977 and December 31, 1978 at an address in Chiswick.

   

Pahalagama Somaratana has been charged with another eight counts of sexual abuse on Friday, November 11 the London Metropolitan police told the Colombo Telegraph. According to the metropolitan police these eight indecent assaults on a female under 14 took place between January 1, 1985 and December 31, 1986 at an address in Croydon.

   

The 65-year-old Pahalagama Somaratana Thero appeared on bail at Feltham Magistrates’ Court on Friday, December 2 and was bailed to appear at Isleworth Crown Court on December 20, 2011. Source

Sri Lankan war and sex crimes against Tamils

Raped ethnic minority Tamil Hindu rebel

GRAPHIC CONTENT! A new video shows the Tamil rebel [LTTE] media TV announcer Issapriya’s naked body (shown left). It lies with hundreds of dead bodies, first with hands tied then untied. They indicate that she had been raped by Sri Lankan soldiers then executed.

  

A [majority Sinhalese Theravada Buddhist] security forces officer speaking in Sinhalese to a female says, “Here,  here, Voice of Tiger announcer.” (See at Minute 2:56 in the video).

• When her dead body was photographed the first time, her hands were tied behind her back; she had allegedly been raped.

The video clearly demonstrates a woeful and consistent pattern by the Sri Lankan forces: Most of the female combatants, armed and unarmed, as well as civilians are stripped naked or have their underwear pulled down to their knees and their bras are either missing or near their neck, exposing the breasts of teenage girls and young women. Only a few men are stripped naked. [Do Sri Lankan soldiers rape them, too?]

• On Tamil sovereignty cognition and war crimes
• PHOTO: US soldiers rape of Afghan boy?
• (David Blacker) Here is a picture of US troops [illegally posing] with [murdered corpse of civilian boy,] an executed 15-year-old Afghan child near Kandahar in 2010. Would you agree that the corpse’s nudity and the blood on his legs are more indicative of violent rape [sodomy] than the above pictures [of Tamil victims]?