Overview

• Investigators say the 60-year-old priest struck the 68-year-old homeless man with an axe, poured gasoline over him and set him ablaze on a road near Chynow A passing cyclist discovered the victim Thursday evening and reported the priest’s car, leading police to arrest him at his parish house the following day
• Both men had known each other for more than 20 years under a written agreement in which the priest was to care for the homeless man in exchange for property rights
• A court in Grojec has ordered three months of pretrial detention on a charge of murder with particular cruelty, a crime that carries a minimum 15-year prison term if convicted
• Archbishop Adrian Galbas has called for penitential masses and pledged full cooperation with investigators as the church pursues both canonical and legal remedies