A PRIEST was yesterday unapologetic about giving character evidence on behalf of a convicted sex offender.Fr Sean Sheehy also said he did not accept the unanimous verdict of a jury that found Danny Foley guilty of sexually assaulting a 24-year-old woman in Listowel, Co Kerry, on June 15, 2008.
He felt there could have been a miscarriage of justice, adding juries had also been known to convict innocent people.
Fr Sheehy, who has known Foley since he was a teenager, was among 50 people, mainly men, to queue up and shake Foley’s hand before he was given a seven-year jail sentence, with two years suspended, at the Circuit Criminal Court, in Tralee, on Wednesday.
The 35-year-old bouncer, from Meen, Listowel, had denied the charge and claimed the encounter between them was consensual.
Fr Sheehy, who spent 42 years in the US and who is currently parish priest of Castlegregory, Co Kerry, said there was a reasonable doubt as to whether, or not, it was a deliberate sexual assault, pointing out that alcohol was also involved in the case.
"The problem here is that there’s definitely a lack of evidence. It boils down to what he said and what she said and the jury chose to believe her," he said.
However, Vera O’Leary, director of the Kerry Rape Crisis Centre, said Fr Sheehy needed to inform himself about the impact of sexual crime on victims who, she said, had to show great courage in going to court.
She also commended Judge Donagh McDonagh and the gardaí on their handling of the case.
During the highly emotional sentencing hearing on Wednesday, the priest, a native of the same area as the accused, said there was not an abusive bone in Foley’s body and he had the highest respect for women.
However, Judge McDonagh said Foley’s conduct on the night of the assault gave the lie to such statements.
Interviewed on Newstalk 106-108, Fr Sheehy said he was sitting down in the courtroom when the Foley’s mother asked him to go up and say hello to the accused.
"I just wanted to support him for one thing and let him know he was not alone. I mean, it’s a horrible situation to be in the dock as a prisoner, just sitting with his prison officers. From a purely pastoral standpoint, I would do that with anybody," he said.
Asked about the victim, who also sitting in the public gallery close to the men who had shaken Foley’s hand and embraced him, Fr Sheehy said he did not know her, but if he had known her he would have shaken her hand as well.
He did not know how she felt, but said his Christian responsibility was to the person he knew who was "the object of, what I call, this extremely harsh sentence".
When asked if he had any regrets about giving evidence on Foley’s behalf, or shaking his hand, Fr Sheehy replied: "None whatsoever."
Ms Vera O’Leary, meanwhile, said she found it difficult to understand how people refused to believe a victim of "most heinous" sexual crime, even when an accused person was found guilty.
The victim was comatose and had several injuries to her body when found by the gardaí, she added.
Ms O’Leary urged Fr Sheehy to reflect on the case, claiming he had shown a complete lack of understanding of the fear and trauma experienced by the victim in this case.
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