Priest says sorry for sexual assault
27 years of pain acknowledged
A Limpopo man who was sexually abused by a Catholic Church priest has finally received the apology he sought for 27 years.
Yesterday former priest Father William MacCurtain issued an apology in which he acknowledged the allegations of sexual abuse by William Segodisho.
“I recognise that my behaviour towards Mr Segodisho in the 1980s violated the trust he had put in me as a Catholic priest. I deeply regret the pain that I have caused Mr Segodisho, and would like to apologise to Mr Segodisho unreservedly” he wrote from his base in Britain.
Earlier this week, Segodisho detailed how he had been abused by the priest in the 1980s. The 46-year-old who was living in the streets of Johannesburg at the time detailed how the abuse took place between 1985 and 1989.
The priest had helped him get school and had bought him clothes before revealing his true intentions.
“Immediately after being taken to this school, I was invited to his church to celebrate my admittance to the school. He also told me that I was to sleep over,” the Sowetan reported earlier this week.
“When we were in the room, instead of offering me orange juice he offered me a glass of whisky. I eventually got drunk and he started to tell me everything he has done for me. The clothing, the pocket money and the school.
“All I had to do was give him a bit of pleasure.”
Segodisho said he had to touch the priest intimately to show his gratitude, noting he had started with touching then went on to kissing.
Responding to the preacher’s apology, Segodisho said he was happy to have been vindicated. “For 27 long years I have yearned, begged and cried for just these three, ‘I am sorry’.
He said he was still hurting over the constant refusal to acknowledge his story by the priest and the church over the years. The 84-year-old priest faces extradition as Segodisho has opened a case of sexual assault.