A 10-year sentence imposed on a former priest for indecently assaulting boys has been reduced to six years by the Court of Criminal Appeal. Tony Walsh (43) committed five of the offences in the presbytery of the Church of the Assumption in Ballyfermot, Dublin, where he was a curate during the 1980s.
He pleaded guilty to 12 charges of indecently assaulting boys from 1980 to 1986. The charges related to touching. Walsh was sentenced in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last December to a total of 10 years' imprisonment. He received a six-year sentence on 11 counts and four years on the remaining count, to run consecutively.
When imposing sentence, Judge Kieran O'Connor said Walsh had ingratiated himself, through his personality and his activities and the fact that he was a priest, into people's homes and then "set about abusing their children". He found such conduct despicable.
The Circuit Court was told that Walsh had convinced himself he was not harming the boys, who were aged eight to 14, because he believed they would not understand what he had done to them. A psychologist and counsellor to Walsh told the Circuit Court that Walsh sought help for his problem in 1990 and now understood the seriousness of the abuse.
Delivering the Court of Criminal Appeal's judgment, Mr Justice O'Flaherty said the charges were not in the worst category of offence. While it was conceded that Walsh had to receive an exemplary sentence and young people must be protected, the court would reduce the sentence in view of his good character and the fact that he had pleaded guilty.