New York: A priest from Kerala visiting the United States has been convicted of molesting a 12-year girl when he turned up uninvited at her house in Brooklyn on May 27, 1999 and could be jailed for up to one year.

His sentencing is set for March 25 and he could be deported after serving the jail term.

The Jury took less than a day to find Reverend Francis Nelson, 38, guilty on two counts of sexual abuse as charged on February 5.

Nelson, dressed in collar cassock, did not react when verdict was read to a packed courtroom and later told reporters that he was innocent.

He is a Roman Catholic priest from Kattar in Kerala where his duties included investigating sexual misconduct by priests.

The Brooklyn diocese said Nelson remains a priest and any decision on his status with the church would have to be made by his bishop in India.

He is the first priest to be convicted of molesting children in New York since the city dioceses turned over dozens of cases alleging sexual abuse of children to authorities last spring following charges that the church is trying to protect paedophilic priests by moving them from one place to another.

At the trial, the girl, now 16, testified that Nelson turned up at her grandmother's house uninvited with gifts even after her mother, with whom she lived upstairs, told her not to come.

Nelson was arrested in May last year and charged with sexually abusing the girl during a visit to her home.

PTI