A CATHOLIC priest has gone on trial on ten charges of sexually abusing a child in the Island.
Piotr Antoni Glas (61) spent years grooming the child, using his position of trust to get close to the alleged victim and their family, the Royal Court heard.
Mr Glas, known as Peter when his Polish name is Anglicised, denies eight counts of committing acts of gross indecency and two counts of indecent assault against the child.
He is alleged to have committed the crimes while he was working for the Catholic Deanery in the Island.
Crown Advocate Carla Carvalho, prosecuting, said the priest took advantage of the child to act on what was described in court as Mr Glas’s “foot fetish” – putting the child’s feet against his face while he masturbated, and wrestling the child until the child’s feet were on the priest’s face and the child’s head was near the priest’s erect penis.
These events happened “countless times”, according to Advocate Carvalho, and they were sexually motivated.
Mr Glas is also alleged to have kissed the child twice.
It was only years later that the complainant started coming to terms with what had happened, eventually confronting the priest, who, the court was told, did not deny the allegations and apologised.
Giving evidence yesterday, the alleged victim described how Mr Glas showed them an “endless flow of generosity and kindness”.
“We started to get very close, very quickly,” they said. “I did not get a great deal of attention [otherwise].
“Then there was this authority figure, this man I looked up to, who gave me a great deal of attention and I certainly enjoyed that.”
At first, the priest asked the child to walk on his back, allegedly to help with back pain, the complainant said. But after several months, the alleged victim said they were asked to walk on the priest’s front.
The priest then asked the child to start kicking his face, the court heard.
The complainant described being at a computer when the priest would lie on the floor at their feet and masturbate, pressing his face into the child’s feet.
The court also heard how the priest engaged in a “play-fight” with the child.
“He would get my body and get it under control and pin me down. At that point, I started registering that [the situation was] uncomfortable,” the court was told.
The alleged victim described how the priest overpowered them and placed them so that their face was against the defendant’s groin and their feet held against their face. They recounted freeing themselves and punching the defendant, who they said was left with a black eye.
Mr Glas is defended by Advocate Simon Thomas.
Deputy Bailiff Robert MacRae is presiding over the jury trial, which continues and is expected to last until the middle of next week.
