A court in Timor Leste started the trial against Richard Daschbach, a former missionary from Pennsylvania on charges of 14 counts of sexual abuse of children under 14 years of age and one count each of child pornography and domestic violence.
84-year-old Dashbach was de-frocked by the Vatican in 2018 after Dashbach confessed to having committed sexual abuse. If convicted, Dashbach could face up to up to 20 years in prison.
97 per cent of the impoverished nation are devout Catholics, who have been sharply divided by the case. The tension between the groups is so high that accusers fear they will be targetted by violence if identified publicly.
Dashbach is also on Interpol's red notice list as he faces wire fraud charges in the US. Accusations of sexual abuse and rape against Dashbach, who arrived in East Timor, emerged in 2018. after the first victim mailed the Vatican about her encounter with Dashbach, 14 more women came out accusing him of various allegations like rape, fondling and oral sex. The abuse is said to have occurred over the years at Topu Honis, a children’s home that Daschbach founded and ran.
