Friday, May 20, 2011

Retired parish priest, 73, denies indecently assaulting teenage girl

A RETIRED parish priest from Mallow was put on trial Monday accused of indecently assaulting a teenage girl by kissing her on the lips and fondling her breasts.

Retired Fr Daniel Duane, 73, was arraigned at Cork Circuit Criminal Court where he pleaded not guilty to indecently assaulting a female on some date between September 1980 and April 1982 at his house at the time in Bellevue, Mallow. The defendant now resides at Cecilstown, Mallow.

Duane’s senior counsel, James O’Mahony, suggested that the incident did not happen and she was making the complaint in the hope of making monetary gain, having sent a solicitor’s letter seeking compensation.

The complainant testified that she attended confession to Fr Duane during a school retreat when she was aged around 15 or 16 and she was upset about the fact that her mother was ill at the time.

"He said we could carry on the conversation at any time and I could go to his place. It was a bungalow next to the Church of the Resurrection in Mallow."

She did call to his house one afternoon after school and she sat on the sofa and he sat on a chair opposite.

"We had a conversation — school and bits and pieces. I spoke about my mother. Then I got upset. I was crying at the time. He said he would get me a cup of tea or water. He went out of the room and came back with a tray and put it on a coffee table. He sat on the right hand side of the sofa, it was a three-seat sofa.

"At one stage I was upset. I was crying at the time and he said I will comfort you. He leaned over towards me and kissed me on the lips. He put his right hand over my left shoulder. He fondled my breasts then. It was maybe about a minute.

"My initial reaction was absolute shock. I started to freeze. I told him to fuck off and then I went towards the door," she said.

She did not make a complaint until last year. She said she did not tell her mother as she was ill and added, "My father would have killed me,"

Duane was asked by his senior counsel if he had indecently assaulted the complainant. He replied, "No". Asked if recalled ever meeting her, he replied, "No."

Asked if he could have met her in the religion room of her school during a retreat he said, "No." He denied inviting her to his house to discuss her mother’s illness, saying, "No, I cannot recall." He gave details of his teaching duties at St Colman’s in Fermoy as a career guidance teacher and said he would not have been free to give a retreat in another school during school hours.

He said he did not invite her into his sitting room. Mr O’Mahony put the complainant’s evidence to him "that you leaned across, put your arm on her shoulder, kissed her and fondled her breasts. Did that happen?" 

The defendant replied, "No." 

He said he did not recognise her when he saw her in court.

The trial continues before Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin and a jury.