A priest, dean of the parish of Avesnes-sur-Helpe (North), ended his days in the night from Monday to Tuesday, a few months before his trial for sexual assault, we learned Thursday from the diocese of Cambrai and the public prosecutor’s office.
He was to appear in October before the criminal court of Douai “to answer for sexual assault”, indicated the Douai prosecutor’s office, confirming information from France Bleu Nord.
He was found dead on a railway line, said the Avesnes-sur-Helpe prosecution, responsible for investigating his death.
Complaint filed by a young girl
The priest, Benjamin Sellier, 47, was “very affected” by this legal procedure following a complaint filed by a young girl and her family, said the diocese of Cambrai.
“As bishop, I am thinking of this young complaining person and her family, of the parishioners and priests of the diocese, and of the bereaved family of Father Benjamin”, reacted the Archbishop of Cambrai Mgr Vincent Dollmann.
Father Sellier was ordained a priest in 2015, after a first professional life during which he was director general of services in Landrecies (Nord).