'I’ve done nothing wrong' says priest accused of molesting boys

Wojciech Gil: photo - Interpol

"I know that I did not do anything wrong in relation to these children," the 36 year-old Gil has told the TVP public broadcaster, in his first interview since police found him last week staying with his parents in southern Poland.

Interpol issued a warrant for his arrest after he failed to return to the Dominican Republic, where he has worked as a priest for the last eight years, from holidaying in Poland last May.

Of the three children who have made allegations against him - one of which says that he was abused for four years - Father Gil said that he "prays for them as a priest and as a man".

"I am innocent and the charges are completely fictional," Gil added.

"I am a man who has been totally destroyed by people who have no evidence," he told TVP.

Of the underwear and child pornography reportedly found by police at the priest's home in the Dominican Republic, Gil says that he had seen the reports in the media, but his "lawyer has not been shown this evidence".

"The most important thing is God knows the truth," Father Gil added.

Prosecutors in the Dominican Republic, where there has been a wide-ranging investigation into paedophilia in the Roman Catholic church, are preparing extradition documents so the priest can be forced to return to the Caribbean island and answer the charges made against him. (pg)