Child Abuse in Exchange for Gifts, Priest Arrested in Genoa

– Postapay top-ups, designer clothes, video games. Gifts that arrived after sexual abuse. A priest was arrested by the Carabinieri of Genoa on this charge. The investigation, coordinated by the prosecutor Federico Panichi, revealed that the victim was a boy who was an altar boy. The priest, as anticipated by Secolo XIX, also attempted to kiss two young people, after giving them an electronic cigarette.
Father Andrea Melis, sixty years old, originally from Cagliari but living in Liguria for years, ended up under house arrest in a community in the eastern part of Genoa. The Curia suspended him after the accommodation where he lived was searched in recent days. A member of the Order of the Piarist Fathers, he was the director of the elementary school and the Assarotti Foundation in the Ligurian capital, in salita San Bartolomeo degli Armeni; and he was president of Fidae Liguria (Federation of Catholic primary and secondary schools) as well as parish priest of the church of Sant’Antonio da Padova in Finale Ligure in the province of Savona.
The charges are sexual assault on a minor, child prostitution and attempted aggravated assault. The precautionary measure was triggered only for the first crime, repeated abuse of a twelve-year-old. On the other two charges against the priest, the investigating judge essentially postponed the evaluation until further investigative developments. Melis is defended by lawyers Raffaele Caruso and Graziella Delfino. In his home, investigators seized drugs for sexual stimulation but also designer clothing and a supply of electronic cigarettes. (ANSA).