Lankan priest charged for sexual assault in US

A Sri Lankan priest in US accused of three counts of misdemeanour sexual assault was arraigned Friday in Superior Court in Enfield and ordered back to court Aug. 26.

According to the warrant for the arrest of the Rev. Edward Warnakulasuriya, he touched the pubic area of an 18-year-old man who had gone to the priest's residence for confession. A prosecutor termed the allegations against Warnakulasuriya as extremely serious.

Warnakulasuriya, who is from Sri Lanka, was also ordered to surrender his passport.

On Thursday, Simsbury police charged Warnakulasuriya, who was the administrator at St. Bernard's Catholic Church in Tariffville, with three counts of fouth-degree sexual assault, police said.

Warnakulasuriya has not been at the church or conducting services for several weeks, a former parishioner said. The archdiocese of Hartford said Thursday Warnakulasuriya had been placed on administrative leave.

"In light of the police investigation and charges, the Archdiocese of Hartford has placed Fr. Edward Warnakulasuriya on administrative leave, which means he cannot perform his duties as a priest, namely the administration of the Sacraments," said Maria Zone, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese. We will cooperate fully with the investigation.

In church and public records, Warnakulasuriya is also listed as Edward Tissera, and W. Edward Julian Tissera. The archdiocese lists him as Edward J. Tissera.

Before his appointment to St. Bernard's in Tariffville, Warnakulasuriya served several years as an assistant pastor at St. Martha Roman Catholic Church in Enfield, according to the Hartford Courant.