October 25, 2005

Priest's suicide after life of child abuse

IRELAND
U.TV

The most notorious child abuser in the church diocese of Ferns, Father Sean Fortune was facing 29 charges of sexual abuse when he killed himself in his fortress-like house in 1999.

At the time, he was awaiting trial on indecent assault and buggery offences relating to eight boys dating back to the late 1970s.

Weighing more than 20 stones, the 45-year-old had barricaded himself into his small home in New Ross, Co Wexford, which was fortified with steel security shutters and CCTV cameras.

Other priests in the diocese like Fr Donal Collins and Fr James Doyle, who were both defrocked last year, have since joined the list of abusers in Ferns.

When he came to his first parish, Fethard-on-Sea in the late 1970s, Fortune already had a background of child sex abuse allegations while at the St Peter`s College seminary in Wexford town.

Posted by kshaw at October 25, 2005 01:18 PM