Catholic World News News Feature

Priest's Innocence Proved 34 Years After Murder In South India November 27, 2000

NEW DELHI, Nov. 27, 00 (CWNews.com) - A Catholic priest of Chenganacherry archdiocese in southern Kerala state who has lived with the reputation of being a "murderer" for 34 years had his innocence made public on Saturday when Deepika-- a leading daily newspaper in Kerala-- revealed that the murder was committed by someone else.

Father Benedict Onamkulam was sentenced to death in 1966 for the murder of Mariakutty-- a widow-- on the basis of "circumstantial evidence." However, on hearing the appeal made by the Church, the Kerala high court acquitted the priest for lack of evidence. All the same, the priest had to serve in a remote mission due to the "murderer" label, while even movies were made based on the role of the priest in the murder of the woman.

However, the happiest moment in the life of the now-retired 73-year-old priest came recently when the 93-year-old widow of the actual murderer approached him recently pleading forgiveness and mercy.

According to the elderly woman, it was her husband doctor who carried out a forced abortion on Mariakutty at the insistence of a rich man who was responsible for the poor widow's pregnancy. When Mariakutty died during the abortion bid, they dumped the body after stabbing it and even put forward false witnesses to claim that the priest who used to help the poor widow was behind the murder.

The wife and sons of the doctor were asked to apologize to the priest for the doctor's crime after they attended a charismatic retreat in desperation following several misfortunes in the family of the guilty doctor, whose identity has not been revealed. Over the years, the family had suffered business failures and the birth of several retarded children and it was the retreat preacher who "read" their guilty minds in prayer and asked them to apologize to the incarcerated priest if they were to have peace in the family.