Catholic priest of Indian heritage stabbed in Australia


Write Comment     |     E-Mail To a Friend     |     Facebook     |     Twitter     |     Print
PTI

Melbourne, 20 Mar 2017: In an apparent racist attack, a Catholic priest of Indian heritage was stabbed in the neck at a church in Melbourne by a man who called him unqualified to say mass as he was an Indian.

 

A man armed with a knife approached Tomy Kalathoor Mathew, 48, in the church foyer moments before the Italian- language mass at St Matthew’s Parish in Fawkner yesterday.

 

It’s believed that the offender told the priest that because he was Indian, he must be a Hindu or a Muslim and therefore unqualified to say mass, local media reported.

 

"There was some shouting and a lot of movement at the back of the church and then I saw Father Tommy coming to approach me. He waved me over and asked me if I could look at his neck because he said ’I’ve just been stabbed’," said Melina, one of the parishioners.

 

A 72-year-old man from Fawkner was arrested and charged with intentionally and recklessly causing injury. He was bailedto appear in Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court on June 13.

 

"At this stage, we believe the incident is isolated. There’s nothing to suggest he’s a danger to anyone else," Detective Senior Constable Rhiannon Norton told reporters.

 

Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne spokesman Shane Healy described the incident as "appalling".

 

"People should never be treated like this. This fellow is doing wonderful work for his parishioners and this is really a blight on the great work that many, many Catholic priests are doing," he said.

 

Father Tomy Mathew suffered minor upper-body injuries and remains in a stable condition at The Northern Hospital. Vicar General Monsignor Greg Bennet said the priest was doing well in the hospital and wanted to get back to work soon.

 

Write your Comments on this Article
Your Name
Native Place / Place of Residence
Your E-mail
Your Comment   You have characters left.
Security Validation
Enter the characters in the image above
    
Disclaimer: Kindly do not post any abusive, defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory or unlawful material or SPAM. BelleVision.com reserves the right to block/ remove without notice any content received from users.
GTI MarigoldGTI Marigold
Anil Studio
Badminton Sports AcademyBadminton Sports Academy

Now open at Al Qusais

Veez Konkani IllustratedVEEZ Konkani

Weekly e-Magazine

New State Bank of India, Customer Service Point
Cool House ConstructionCool House Construction
Uzvaad FortnightlyUzvaad Fortnightly

Call : 91 9482810148

Your ad Here
Power Care
Ryan Intl Mangaluru
Ryan International
pearl printing
https://samuelsequeira.substack.com/publish
Omintec
Kittall.ComKittall.Com

Konkani Literature World

Konkanipoetry.com
Bluechem