Woman alleges in lawsuit that priest raped her

Retired teacher claims assault was at home

A Ross woman has sued the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh and a former priest, alleging that the priest raped her at her home.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, Kathy Ann Coll, a retired North Allegheny Intermediate High School teacher, accused the Rev. Cyprian Duru, a former visiting priest at St. Teresa of Avila Roman Catholic Parish, of assaulting her Dec. 11, 2016.

Ms. Coll said Father Duru came to her house to deliver a Christmas card and watch a Steelers game. She claims in the suit that he followed her into her basement as she went to get him a drink and assaulted her.

In her complaint, Ms. Coll said she went to a hospital the following day. She said she eventually had to be treated for multiple sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, and that she suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder.

Sharon K. Smith, Ms. Coll’s attorney, said her client was so traumatized by the alleged rape that she didn’t contact police until Dec. 13.

“Obviously she was in shock,” Ms. Smith said. “She remembers sitting on the floor crying, sitting in the shower until the water ran cold.”

The county district attorney’s office said that after Ross police investigated, no charges were filed because Father Duru insisted the sex was consensual.

The situation came down to a “he said, she said” encounter, according to Ms. Smith, who added, “His story was she consented.”

“After reviewing the evidence and the investigation, we informed the victim and her attorney that based on the evidence as it exists, we cannot move forward with any charges,” Mike Manko, spokesman for the district attorney’s office, said

Wednesday.

According to the complaint, Father Duru was placed at St. Teresa in 2016, after arriving from Nigeria to pursue a doctoral degree at Duquesne University. Ms. Coll alleges the diocese, the parish and Bishop David Zubik — all of whom are named as defendants in the suit with Father Duru — failed to properly vet the priest and inform him of “cultural differences.”

All visiting priests must undergo FBI fingerprinting and state background checks, the Rev. Nicholas S. Vaskov, a spokesman for the diocese, said in a statement Wednesday.

“Priests from across the world travel to Pittsburgh to study for advanced degrees at local universities. While here, they may also seek to take up residence in a local parish. In order to do so, the Diocese of Pittsburgh requires the testimony of their bishop that they are a priest in good standing, with no allegations of any inappropriate behavior made against them,” Father Vaskov said.

“His bishop testified to the fact that he was in good standing as a priest before he took up residence,” he added.

Father Duru could not be reached for comment. He said in an interview with Ross police in February 2017 that he and Ms. Coll had consensual intercourse, and that Ms. Coll was the “aggressor,” according to a police report.

In her lawsuit, Ms. Coll also alleges that Duquesne never addressed the allegations against Father Duru, despite the fact that the diocese notified the university that he was no longer allowed to minister to patients at UPMC Montefiore.

Gabriel Welsch, Duquesne vice president for marketing and communications, said in a statement Wednesday that university administrators were “monitoring the situation closely.”

“The university respects that this is a serious matter,” Mr. Welsch said.

Ms. Smith said the suit was filed because her client had “not found resolution with this through the church. It was left at, ‘Well, we took him out of the parish, and that’s that,’” Ms. Smith said.

Ms. Coll said in an interview Wednesday that in the days following the alleged assault, a group of diocesan officials came to her house to inform her that Father Duru would be forced to move out of the parish rectory and barred from functioning as a priest. Since then, she said, she has spoken with the diocese’s victims assistance coordinator, Rita E. Flaherty, and had a meeting with two lawyers for the diocese.

But in attempting to explain to the diocese the effects of the alleged assault on herself and her family, Ms. Coll said she still feels as if she “couldn’t be heard.” She added that she has been unable to get information from the diocese’s lawyers for information about Father Duru’s whereabouts.

“It’s a real tough thing on a victim not to know, you know, where this man is,” Ms. Coll said. “To think that he could be at Duquesne University, on this campus, for the last 2½ years just absolutely is horrendous, just totally horrendous.”

Father Vaskov said in his statement that Father Duru is not actively ministering in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. A Duquesne spokeswoman confirmed he remains a doctoral student at the university.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette usually does not name alleged victims of sexual assaults, but Ms. Coll said she wanted to go public with her contentions because she hopes to serve as a resource for other Catholic women who have experienced abuse. She said she is not angry at the diocese, and she waited to file the suit because she “didn’t want to hurt the church.” She said she wants to form a nonprofit for victims that she hopes will be connected to the church.

“If I can help other women, this journey from being a victim to becoming a survivor, then it’ll be a real success, not only for this woman, but for parishes, for our diocese, for the bishop,” Ms. Coll said.