BishopAccountability.org
	82-year-old Priest Pleads Guilty to Abusing Altar Boy Belfast Telegraph October 14, 2009 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/breaking-news/ireland/82yearold-priest-pleads-guilty-to-abusing-altar-boy-14530898.html A priest in his 80s has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a young boy in South Dublin in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The court has heard that Gardai tracked him down in the UK in 2007 where he made admissions in relation to the abuse. Detective Joseph McLoughlin told the court the priest, now 82, began to indecently assault the victim when he was around 11 years old. He was an alter boy at the time and the priest asked him to call into his house where he proceeded to abuse him. It happened on up to six occasions over the next two years, including on a trip to the beach. The court heard the priest would ask him who his favourite girls were and would cut off locks of his hair. The victim eventually went to the Gardai in 2002. A man matching the priest's appearance was spotted attending mass in the UK and Gardai tracked him down in 2007 when he made admissions saying "it was an altar boy thing". He didn't know if any psychiatrist could explain the attraction and he was at a very low ebb in his life at the time. He's been remanded on continuing bail for sentence on the 2nd of February. Meanwhile, the High Court will tomorrow deliver its ruling in public on what content of the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation report into abuse may be published at this time.
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