Fr Smyth threat to punch priest who kept him from altar boys

Paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth threatened to punch another priest when warned to stay away from altar boys, the North’s Historical Abuse Inquiry has heard.

Fr William Fitzgerald, who served with Smyth at Kilnacrott Abbey in Co Cavan in the late 1980s, described him as a scary individual whose notoriety extended across the world.

Giving evidence to the inquiry in Banbridge, the 61-year-old Australian said he had to bar Smyth from church rehearsals with nine altar boys.

“I told him, ‘in view of the rumours about you and your sexual activities with children, you will not be anywhere near these kids under my watch’.

“He said ‘I’ll knock your head off.’ I said ‘oh make my day you b*****d. I’ll knock your head clean off’.”

Smyth was convicted on more than 100 child abuse charges on both sides of the border and died in prison in the Republic in 1997.

Fr Fitzgerald said Smyth’s poisonous legacy forced the closure of Kilnacrott Abbey and destroyed the Norbertine order.

“In Ireland the word Norbertine means paedophile,” said Fr Fitzgerald.

The inquiry has set aside a week to examine whether systemic failings allowed Smyth, from west Belfast, to offend for more than four decades.

Fr Fitzgerald voluntarily attended the hearing at Banbridge Courthouse in Co Down on behalf of the Norbertines.

He said he was first made aware of Smyth’s reputation while talking to a colleague in Perth, Australia in 1973.

He told the inquiry priests were treated differently from other adults who committed crimes. Nothing short of murder would warrant punishment, he said. “Arrest was something you never did to a priest. Anything short of murder or maybe fiddling too much with the finances. It is protectionism called clericalism.”

New protocols marked a sea change in the attitude towards clergy, Fr Fitzgerald said.

The inquiry heard how Smyth frequented children’s homes in Belfast and Co Down as well as grooming boys and girls for abuse after befriending their parents. Fr Fitzgerald said the boot of Smyth’s car was always filled with “candy”.

The inquiry heard confidential documents from St Patrick’s psychiatric hospital in Dublin revealed Smyth had asked to be admitted in 1973.

In a letter to an officer at Finglas Garda station on November 1st, 1973, Smyth’s psychiatrist wrote: “I have been asked to write to you by Fr Brendan Smyth. He has been a patient under my care for some months and I am familiar with the nature of his problems.

“I am writing to his superiors suggesting that he should have a period of in-patient care.”

A case summary dated February 1974, read: "Psychosexual difficulties for many years. First developed in the Novitiate. A recurring problem no matter where he has been stationed. His paedophilia has brought him into contact with the police." –PA