Friday, April 08, 2011

Priest facing indecent assault trial gets heckled

A RETIRED priest was verbally abused as he left a court after being returned for trial on two counts of indecently assaulting two teenage girls in Co Cork in the 1980s.

Fr Daniel Duane, aged 73, a former priest in the Diocese of Cloyne, and with an address at the Presbytery, Cecilstown, Mallow, appeared at Mallow District Court where Judge Eamon O’Brien was told that books of evidence have been served in both cases.

There is one count of assault in each book.

Inspector Declan O’Sullivan said the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had confirmed his indictment before a judge and jury.

The judge agreed to an application from Inspector O’Sullivan that Fr Duane be remanded on bail to appear before Cork Circuit Criminal Court on May 10.

Fr Duane did not speak during the brief hearing.

Then, walking with the aid of two crutches, he left the court room a short time later accompanied by friends and relatives.

A group of people had gathered outside and several surrounded him as he left. One man shouted abuse at him as he walked across the road to a waiting car.

Fr Duane made no reply before he sat into the car and was whisked away.

Fr Duane was charged on February 22 last with indecently assaulting two women in separate incidents in the early 1980s while he worked in the Diocese of Cloyne.

He was charged with indecently assaulting a woman in the Mallow area between September 1, 1980, and April 1, 1982.

He faces a further charge of assaulting another woman in the Mallow area between the same dates.

Yesterday, defending solicitor Kieran McCarthy applied for and was granted legal aid on behalf of Gráinne O’Donovan, another solicitor in his practice, and for a senior counsel to represent Fr Duane, who has undergone a hip replacement operation since his last court appearance.