Trial of US priest charged with sexual assault begins with jury selection

Anthony Odiong accused of sexually abusing three female congregants in Waco faces a maximum of life imprisonment

The criminal trial of a Roman Catholic priest who ministered in Texas and south-east Louisiana and was charged with illicitly abusing his status as a clergyman to pursue sex with spiritually vulnerable female congregants began on Tuesday with jury selection.

Anthony Odiong, 57, faces five counts of sexual assault in the first degree and two such counts in the second-degree in a state courthouse in Waco, Texas, involving three women whom he met while working there.