THE VICTIM of a defrocked Limerick paedophile priest, who refused to apologise after he was released from prison, has described it as “pure arrogance”.
“Sexual predator” Terry Loughran, aged 67, from Limerick city, is a free man after serving three years of prison sentences totalling four-and-a-half years.
Loughran, known as a “singing priest”, groomed and sexually assaulted a teenager in parish houses in Croom and Kilfinane, in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, on trips abroad, and in hotel rooms after concerts, Limerick Circuit Court heard in 2023.
Loughran pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexual assault on the boy between May 1998 and January 2001. The victim was aged between 14 and 17 at the time while the then Fr Loughran was in his late 30s.
He was one of the most well-known priests in the Limerick Diocese and served in a number of parishes in the city and county. Loughran was “defrocked” in 2013.
He was released last month from Castlerea Prison where Sunday World journalist Patrick O’Connell asked him, “Would you like to apologise to your victims?”
“No, I’ve nothing to say,” said Loughran, who was carrying his guitar, baggage and a large picture frame.
“Would you like to express any remorse at all?" Mr O’Connell persisted.
*No, I’ve done my time, that’s all,” replied Loughran, who walked away.
The Limerick Leader contacted the victim who described the interaction as typical of Loughran’s “pure arrogance”.
“It is exactly what I expected. I know him so well. I know the person he is. I know the mentality of him - pure arrogance,” said the victim, who recalled talking to a person on the eve of Loughran’s release.
“I said, ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if he comes out with a guitar in his hand and a bag in his other hand’ and that’s exactly what he did,” he said.
The Leader asked him how he felt when he heard Loughran was being released after serving three years for the sexual crimes he committed.
“I was contacted by a prison liaison officer four to five weeks prior to his release to tell me the date. It was just a feeling of deflation. He was put away but he was still in the back of your mind - certain things might trigger you off or certain times of the year - but when you officially see it in black and white that his release date is May 19…”
The Leader asked him if it was a “fair sentence”.
“No, absolutely not - he’s out in three years - but there isn’t long enough. It just feels it’s gone by in a flash. It’s deflating. That’s the only way I could describe it. It wasn’t even feeling anger or sadness,” he said.
The victim told the Leader that he has heard indirectly that Loughran “has some sort of a support network still on the outside”. It is believed that Loughran has not returned to Limerick and has gone “up the country”.
A garda investigation commenced in 2017 after they received a notification from the Limerick diocesan office of historic sex abuse following a complaint by the victim. Loughran denied the charges after he was arrested in 2019.
A trial commenced in 2022 with Loughran pleading not guilty. He changed his plea to guilty after the victim gave evidence in the witness box but before he was cross-examined.
A key piece of evidence in the case, investigated by Sergeant David Boland, was from St Patrick’s College, Maynooth where a sexual assault took place. It was where the ex-priest was ordained.
Loughran denied that the victim ever stayed in St Patrick’s College but may have visited.
Sgt Boland said gardai took a photo of a picture of Loughran’s ordination class on a wall that the victim said the then priest showed him.
Photos taken by gardai of a bedroom with a timber floor also corroborated the victim’s allegation, as did a story Fr Loughran told the victim about a room that was “boarded up forever” as a seminarian died by suicide in there in the 1800s.