A former priest who pleaded guilty to abusing two
altar boys over 20 years ago yesterday spoke of the shame of being among
the most despised people in Irish society as he apologised to his
victims for what he had done to them.
Patrick Crowley
(62), a former priest of the diocese of Cork and Ross who was laicised
in 2002, said it pained him to listen to the effect of his abuse on his
victims.
Crowley took the stand at Cork Circuit Criminal Court
yesterday to apologise after pleading guilty to three counts of
sexually assaulting one boy and six counts of sexually assaulting the
other boy on various dates between September 1st, 1989, and May 31st,
1990.
“As a convicted paedophile I live with the
reality that every day of my life I am among probably the most despised
people in society. It is very hard to forget what I have done. I cannot
pretend I did not know what I was doing was wrong,” said Crowley.
‘Consequences’
“But until the whole scandal of sexual abuse broke in the church, I did not appreciate the long-term emotional consequences of the abuse.
“That
is something I have to live with. I realise the terrible scourge sexual
abuse was and the terrible effects it had on people’s lives.
“I wish I could change the past but I can’t.
“I want to acknowledge it was a terrible betrayal of trust on my part.
“It
was criminal behaviour and there is no hiding from that. I have to live
with that but I am so so sorry for the damage and hurt that I caused to
the victims.”
Det Garda Donal O’Connell said both complainants were abused while serving as altar boys in a parish where Crowley was a curate.
One
was aged 10 and the other was aged 11 and both were abused in the same
manner when each was alone with Crowley, the court heard.
Crowley
would send the boy to a local shop to get a paper after Mass and when
he returned all the other altar boys would be gone and Crowley would
engage the child in horseplay in the sacristy during which he would put
his hand down the boy’s trousers and fondle his private parts.
“One
of the injured parties wrote a letter to the Cork diocese in 1999. A
number of years later, that letter was passed on to the gardaí when
inquiries were ongoing into clerical sexual abuse in Cork and Ross
diocese,” said Det Garda O’Connell.
A second
injured party went to his local Garda station several times to make a
complaint against Patrick Crowley but he lost courage to follow through
and left without making the complaint until 2011 when he finally went to
gardaí.
Det Garda O’Connell read out victim
impact statements on behalf of both men in which they spoke of living
with the secret and shame of the abuse even though they were innocent
children who had been preyed on by Crowley and had done nothing wrong.
Defence barrister John Devlin
said Crowley had served an eight-month sentence in 2003 for similar
offences from the same period and he had undergone counselling and had
done a lot of voluntary work with Sr Consilio Fitzgerald of the Sisters of Mercy.
Judge Patrick Moran
said Crowley appeared to appreciate the impact of his abuse and it was
to his credit that he had spared his victims a trial by pleading guilty
to the abuse, but it was clear both men had suffered as a result of the
abuse and he jailed him for 12 months.