AN IRISH missionary leader has said “it appears now that it is
acceptable for media to pronounce any individual as guilty without the
necessity of going through any form of judicial procedure”.
Fr
Eamonn Aylward said: “You are guilty until you are proven innocent seems
to be the norm of the day. This cannot be good for the evolution of our
society as a respecter of the basic human rights of all our citizens.”
While
abuse of children was “to be absolutely deplored in all its forms, we
cannot remain blind to the possible innocence of some of the accused in
the RTÉ programme”, he said.
This was a reference to the
Prime Time Investigates programme
A Mission to Prey , broadcast on May 23rd last.
Executive secretary of the Irish Missionary Union (IMU), Fr Aylward made the comments in the IMU Newsletter for June.
“It is now over a month since RTÉ
Prime Time broadcast the programme on alleged abuse by a number
of Irish missionaries in Kenya, Sth (sic) Africa and Nigeria. Just last
week a BBC 1 documentary reported on abuse by English missionaries in a
school in Tanzania.”
Fr Aylward was referring to the documentary
Abused: Breaking the Silence, broadcast on BBC 1 on June 21st last.
The
two programmes were “a further reminder to all of us of the horrific
suffering endured by children and adults at the hands of missionaries
who have abused their position of trust”, he said. Children had suffered
“and the IMU is pledged in doing all that is possible to bring that
suffering to light”.