BBC News [United Kingdom]
May 16, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6662131.stm
A County Londonderry priest abused a teenager after she asked him about becoming a nun, a court has heard.
The alleged victim was giving evidence in the trial of Father Patrick Crilly who denies four charges of indecently assaulting the girl.
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The girl, who was 15 at the time, claimed that during meetings the priest sat her on his knee and kissed her.
She claimed the priest later made her touch him. The alleged incidents took place in a pastoral centre in the city.
The girl told Londonderry Crown Court that, on each occasion, the priest checked the building to make sure no-one was there before taking her to a room where the alleged abuse took place.
She told the court how, on the first occasion, Father Crilly asked her if she knew what celibacy meant and what married couples did on the first night.
The girl said the incidents progressed to the stage where Father Crilly put his hand down her underwear and made her touch him.
She said she did not question what was happening because it was being done by a priest who, she believed, knew the difference between right and wrong.
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