Priest accused of hitting parishioner

A priest who allegedly assaulted one of his parishioners pleaded not guilty in a Sydney court this morning.

Father John Grillis was charged with assault occasioning grievous bodily harm over an alleged attack on John Mihalapoulos, 69, a member of the committee of Grillis’s Greek Orthodox church of St Nektarios, on June 26.

Grillis did not attend the hearing in Burwood, although a small contingent from the local Greek Orthodox community attended.

Grillis’s lawyer, John Kissane, entered the plea of not guilty on his behalf.

The case has been adjourned to February 21.

The president of the church community council, Christos Syrios, said the community was upset that the alleged incident had occurred.

”Nothing like this happened in our church before,” Mr Syrios said.

Mr Syrios said that Grillis would continue to minister to the parish until the case was decided.