A Calgary priest has been charged in connection to alleged sexual assaults that happened at St. Mark Roman Catholic Church in 2012.

Last October, Calgary police received a complaint from a woman who said she was sexually touched without her consent several times by a priest at the church, located at 5552 Madigan Drive N.E.

The assaults allegedly happened between September and October of 2012.

On Friday, police arrested Malcolm Joe D’Souza, 62, and he was charged with one count of sexual assault.

“As part of the investigation, looking at the specifics, we decided to go with one count of sexual assault,” said S/Sgt Bruce Walker, Calgary Police Sex Crimes Unit. “With regards to any other victims, at this time, we have no other victims that have come forward with this particular priest.”

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary released a statement on Tuesday and said it was aware of the charges and that D’Souza was placed on administrative leave and prohibited from ‘exercising any priestly ministry’ last October.

The church says it will not comment further on the charge as the matter is before the courts and that it is cooperating with the police investigation.

“I think if we look back over the last couple years, we certainly see an increase in historical sexual assaults being reported to police and a learning for me in the last couple of years of being in this unit, we certainly see sexual violence is in every single community, profession, or what have you, we see, it’s quite prevalent in any community. I think any time anybody has a position of power or authority over somebody then certainly that makes things more complicated and more serious, especially for this, any victim who is assaulted by someone in a position of authority,” said Walker.

D’Souza is scheduled to appear in court on February 21, 2019.

Anyone with information about a sexual assault should call the Calgary Police Service non-emergency line at 403-266-1234, or contact Crime Stoppers anonymously using either of the following methods:

TALK: 1-800-222-8477

TYPE: www.calgarycrimestoppers.org