A three-year prison sentence imposed on a Catholic priest last year for indecently assaulting four altar boys was reduced by six months by the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday.
Thomas Naughton (68), who was ordained a member of St Patrick's Missionary Order, Kiltegan, served in Nigeria and Grenada until 1976 when he returned to Ireland.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told in July 1998 that the church authorities were informed in November 1985 of abuse of the first victim in Donnycarney church, and Naughton was sent to a treatment centre in Stroud, England. When he returned, he was sent to a church in Ringsend, Dublin. It was there that further offences occurred.
Naughton had been sentenced to three years in jail on one charge and to terms of 2 1/2 years and two years on others, to run concurrently. Yesterday the three-year sentence was reduced to 2 1/2 years.