A PRIEST who sexually assaulted a girl in her hospital bed 37 years ago received all 18-month prison sentence yesterday. The 66-year-old cleric, who cannot be named pending another case, admitted two counts of indecent assault while working as a chaplain in a Dublin children's hospital in 1960.
The victim, now aged 50, told Dublin District Court she revealed details of the abuse to another priest in 1985. "He told me I could go away and forget about it. I was forgiven," she said.
Garda Gillian Ryan told the court that the priest would visit the girl's room at night. She said the girl, then aged 13, did not resist properly because her right arm was in a cast. The girl told the priest to stop because what he was doing was wrong.
"He told her `I'm a priest, I wouldn't do anything that was wrong'," said Garda Ryan.
The victim told the court she had been hospitalised for depression nine times as a result of the abuse. She suffered from agoraphobia and felt too vulnerable, to wear night dresses or skirts to this day. The abuse also affected her religious beliefs.
Judge Gerard Haughton said it was an appalling case with abuse carried out in a cold and calculated manner. "The defendant and others in this situation have been responsible, with offences that have come to light, of destroying the belief that huge numbers of young people have had in religion ... He destroyed her innocence and belief in her religion."
Judge Haughton was told the defendant was "full of remorse" and receiving treatment at the Granada Centre for Sexual Offenders. He imposed an 18-month sentence which, he said, took account of the fact the offences occurred such a long time ago. Another Dublin priest went bail for £2,000 and the defendant was released pending an appeal in the case.