A FORMER Dublin priest has been found guilty by a jury at the Circuit
Criminal Court of serious sexual assaults on an altar boy who was aged
between seven and 12 at the time.
The verdict was unanimous on all counts.
Due
to ongoing media restrictions ordered by the courts in this case the
identity of the former priest or the man he abused as a child cannot be
reported, nor can details which could lead to either being identified.
The
man was found guilty on five charges of buggery and eight of indecent
assault. He was remanded in custody pending sentencing on December 7th.
The
former priest originally faced 16 charges, six of buggery and 10 of
indecent assault, referring to incidents between June 1st, 1979, and
June 30th, 1983.
In his evidence, the now 38- year-old victim indicated that the 16 indictments were sample charges.
Over
the relevant years, he “was interfered with or raped, or both, once a
week . . . sometimes three times a week”, he said. All charges were
denied by his abuser.
Two charges were dropped last Friday on the
direction of Judge Frank O’Donnell. These concerned an allegation of
buggery and an allegation of indecent assault at an enclosure near an
area where the victim and other children used to play.
In
statements to gardaí, the victim alleged that the assaults at the
enclosure had taken place on February 10th, 1980, his eighth birthday.
He told the court the alleged incidents occurred when he was “nine or
10, definitely not eight”.
He agreed in court he had said in statements
to gardaí in 1998 and 1999 that they occurred in 1980.
David Keane SC, defending, said the defendant attended at two baptisms on the 1980 date, which was a Sunday.
A
man told the court last Friday that his son had been baptised at the
family home by the then priest at 4pm on the relevant date and had taken
part in celebrations there until 10pm-10.30pm that night.
Of the
remaining 14 charges, the jury dropped another one yesterday as it was
an “alternative” charge, as Mary Rose Gearty SC, for the State, had put
it in her opening address last Wednesday.
It concerned an incident
at the local presbytery where the victim was tied before being raped by
the former priest.
The two charges arising alleged buggery on the
occasion and/or indecent assault.
The jury foreman told for the
court yesterday that the jurors had found the defendant guilty of
buggery on that occasion and, this being so, the indecent assault charge
was no longer
relevant.
Describing this incident to the court
last Wednesday, the victim said it took place when he was “around 10”.
It was “a sports day at the school” and although he was “not very
sporty”, he had won a medal. It was, he recalled, “a hot day”.
He
met the priest who said to him “fair play to you” and brought him back
to the presbytery.
The victim recalled that, as usual, the priest put on
music and offered him crisps, sweets and lemonade.
“He asked me
did I want to play a game? I said ‘yes’ and then he asked me to come
over to the coffee table in the room. He took one of those ropes for
priest’s vestments and he asked me to bend over the table. He tied my
wrists to my ankles and pulled my shorts down.”
As the rape took
place and the boy began to cry, his abuser “closed a window and turned
the music up. He said everything was fine and that he loved me. He said
if anything was going on at home to tell him. I went home about two
hours later”.
SIC: IT/IE