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Hindu priest convicted of sexual abuse

A Hindu priest accused of drugging and fondling a 19-year-old woman sent to him for counseling was found guilty by a Queens, New York, jury on Thursday.

Mokesh Narine Prashad, 35, was convicted of two counts of sexual abuse in the first degree and one count of second-degree harassment -- all which could add up to a 14-year prison term and possible deportment to Guyana.

Judge Ronald Hollie also denied bail for the pandit who will be sentenced on April 20.

The story, which has received lurid coverage in many of New York's tabloid dailies, stems from an incident on February, 25, 1999. According to prosecutors, Prasad used his authority as a priest to initiate a sexual encounter with the young woman, whose mother had sent her to him for spiritual guidance.

When his advances were rebuffed, he gave her a drink laced with a sleeping agent. The woman testified last week that she later woke up naked in bed with Prasad. She stumbled out of his house and called 911 from a corner store.

However, Prasad's lawyer, Anthony Colleluori, painted a dramatically different version of the events when he started his case on Monday. Collelouri argued that the alleged victim was, in fact, an unprincipled seductress who made an unsuccessful pass at Prasad. When he rejected her advances, the young woman concocted the sexual abuse story to prevent Prasad from notifying her mother, Colleluori said.

The defense attorney reacted with dismay to the jury's decision.

"I'm extremely disappointed," he said. "It's devastating to this religious community, as well as to the priest himself. His wife and two young children don't understand, and neither do I."

Prasad, who runs a Richmond Hill temple with a congregation of about 50 people, received overwhelming support from his congregation during the trial.

Colleluori said that priest would have been quickly acquitted had the jury been allowed to hear evidence about his conversation with the woman on the day in question. Judge Hollie would not allow the priest to relate the conversation, saying it was legally out of bounds because of the priest-penitent relationship.

However, Collelouri took issue with this interpretation of the law. "The court ruling not to let the priest speak [about the conversation] was way too restrictive and didn't let the jury see who she is and who he is," he said.

Collelouri said his planned appeal of the verdict will focus on this issue, among others. In the meantime, he will file a writ of habeus corpus to possibly win Prasad's release.

District Attorney Richard Brown, on the other hand, celebrated the jury's decision. "This crime caused much pain and was a terrible betrayal of trust by a religious figure," he said in a statement. "He deserves to be punished severely."

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