A former parish priest has been jailed after plying a 13-year-old boy with drink and abusing him at a parochial house in Co Donegal.
The former cleric, Eamonn Crossan admitted taking the boy back to the parochial house in Kincasslagh on an unknown date between 1984 and 1985 and indecently assaulting him.
Crossan, who is now aged 69, gave the boy alcohol including Smithwicks and shots of whiskey.
The boy then woke up in bed naked beside Crossan, who was also naked in a bed in the house.
The priest, who was aged 33 at the time, had taken over as a father-figure to the boy after the recent death of his father.
Waiving anonimity
The victim, Kevin O'Brien, instructed his solicitor to waive his right to anonymity so that Crossan could be named.
Crossan appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court where he admitted a single charge of indecent assault against the boy. The court was told that when a complaint was made to the Church about the assault in 1998, Crossan was immediately laicized.
In April 2017, the victim made a statement of complaint to Gardai and a full investigation was launched.
The victim, who was not in court, was represented by his adult daughter who read out his victim impact statement.
'Sick actions'
The statement told how his faith was so important to him as a child and for a person who was supposed to be beyond reproach to groom him for the purpose of abusing him made him lose trust in the church.
He said he has not been able to fulfil his role as a father, friend or husband and that this all stemmed from the "sick actions" of this priest.
He added that he felt trapped and suffered from depression and has always felt trapped "like a frightened child."
He said he can still hear the priest breathing on him and the stubble on his face which he said haunts him when he hears his wife breathing beside him at night.
The man said he tried to report the matter when he was younger, but nobody listened to him and that he has since tried to take his own life.
He suffered what he thought was two strokes, but they were seizures brought on by the stress of reliving what had happened to him.
He now goes to weekly counselling sessions which he has to pay for privately, adding that he now remembers everything that happened to him each night.
'Hermit-like existence
Barrister for the accused, Mr Shane Costello SC, said the accused now lives outside of Donegal and almost lives a "hermit-like' existence.
He said he is deeply sorry for what he did and that he understands the trauma and the stress he caused and accepts full responsibility for it. He also penned a letter to his victim, in which he states that the situation was all his fault and it had nothing to do with his victim.
He also promised his victim that he has learned from what he has done and that his abusive behaviour will never happen again.
Barrister Shane Costello said that the accused man's vocation was the most important thing in his life and because of what he did, that was taken from him before saying this was not anybody else's but his own.
He added that the various reports on the priest placed him between a low risk of reoffending and a modest risk of reoffending but added that he has not reoffended in 33 years since.
"He is not a man likely to commit any further crime. I think you can take the view he is of low risk," added Mr Costello.
Gross breach of trust
Judge John Aylmer said the incident was a gross breach of trust saying the offence has had devastating consequences for the victim.
He said he placed the offence in the mid-range of such offences and one which merited five years in prison before mitigation.
The mitigating factors included an admission by the accused as far back as 1998 when the case was first investigated by Church authorities.
He also entered a guilty plea when prosecuted in 2017 after an official complaint was made by the victim to Gardai.
Judge Aylmer noted that there was also the potential of a more "obstructive approach" by the accused with the possibility of judicial review proceedings with the delay in the case and also the structural changes, which have occurred in the parochial house.
Genuinely remorseful
He noted that the man's career as a priest had been terminated and that he now leads a modest and life, that he had not reoffended and that he is genuinely remorseful.
He added the court accepts the accused has demonstrated he is a low risk of reoffending and that he attended the Granada Institute for clerical sex offenders between 1998 and 2004.
However, Judge Aylmer said the offence was too serious and that the accused must serve a custodial sentence but suspended the final 12 months meaning the accused will serve two years. He was also placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years.
Bishop's statement
Following the sentencing the Diocese of Raphoe released a statement in which Bishop Alan McGuckian apologised to the victim and his family.
The statement confirmed Crossan was a priest in the diocese from 1976 and was removed from ministry immediately on reception of the complaint in 1998 and that the Garda and HSE/Tulsa were informed then.
On behalf of the Diocese of Raphoe, Bishop Alan McGuckian said: ‘I am deeply saddened that an innocent child had to endure this devastating abuse. It is all the more serious that it involved abuse by someone in a position of sacred trust and power.
"I apologise sincerely to the man who suffered and to his family. I fully accept that no apology can undo the harm inflicted on an innocent child.
The Church must continue to ensure that such crimes never happen again and that victims feel their voices are heard and that they are supported.
"If anyone else has a concern or complaint, either now or from the past, I encourage them to come forward and contact both the diocese and the statutory authorities.’
