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The Claims: Not One Was Found Guilty in Court of Law By Michael Brennan, Shane Phelan and Edel Kennedy Irish Independent July 14, 2011 http://www.independent.ie/national-news/the-claims-not-one-was-found-guilty-in-court-of-law-2821179.html THE Cloyne Report details the cases of 18 priests against whom sexual abuse allegations were made. All of the priests involved were given pseudonyms as the allegations against them were never proven in a court of law. In fact only one priest has ever been convicted of sexual abuse in the diocese of Cloyne. Fr Ronat The section of the report dealing with Fr Ronat has been heavily redacted and specific details of allegations against him are unclear. The priest denied any wrongdoing and the commission found evidence he was actually offered a position as a parish priest at one stage. A complaint was finally made to gardai by an alleged victim in 2005, but the DPP decided charges should not be brought. Fr Corin This priest is alleged to have abused two young girls. He quit the priesthood after allegations surfaced in the mid-1990s, some 30 years after the alleged abuse took place. When the allegations of one victim were put to him by Monsignor Denis O'Callaghan,Vicar General of Cloyne in January 1995, he is said to have admitted fondling a girl between 1960 and 1969. Bizarrely, Msgr O'Callaghan concluded no abuse had occurred. Fr Darian This priest died in 1997, a few months after a complaint was made about him to the diocese. A woman complained to Msgr O'Callaghan she had been abused by Fr Darian when she was 16 in the 1960s. Msgr O'Callaghan told the commission he did not put the complaint to Fr Darian as he was terminally ill and did not want to distress him. Fr Calder This priest was alleged to have spiked the drinks of men and sexually assaulted them. Six men came forward to gardai in 1998 claiming they had been given drink by the priest in 1988, causing them to become weak or fall asleep. The DPP decided not to bring a prosecution because of the delay in making the complaint. Fr Moray A complaint was made in 1997 by a woman who alleged she and her brother, who subsequently committed suicide, had been sexually abused by Fr Moray. The commission found correct procedures were not followed after this complaint. No record was made of the complaint and no information was given to the civil authorities. He died in 1991. Fr Flan The 40-year-old was involved in relationships with a number of women and also had a complaint of child sexual abuse made against him. Fr Flan admitted he had a relationship with the teen -- but after she denied it Msgr O'Callaghan chose to believe her. Some time later, Fr Flan eloped with a married woman. He was suspended and a precept (church command) was issued. Fr Drust An allegation of clerical child sex abuse against Fr Drust was the only case in the diocese in which the DPP directed a prosecution. The complainant, referred to as 'Ula', said the abuse began in 1964/65 when she was seven or eight. In October 2004, Fr Drust was charged with 28 counts of indecent assault and sent forward for trial to Cork Circuit Criminal Court. However because of a number of factors including his age and ill health, a criminal prosecution never took place. Fr Drust died last year at the age of 90. Fr Tarin Two complaints of child sexual abuse were made against Fr Tarin who died in 2003 at the age of 81. 'Maille' said she was seriously sexually assaulted by the priest in the early 1950s when she was about six. The second complainant, Micheal, claimed in 2009 that he was abused in the 1960s. There was no HSE involvement in the cases. Fr Kael Fr Kael (80) is a member of a religious order who admitted to being involved in a sexual relationship with a nun. One allegation of child sexual abuse was made against him. The victim, 'Airell', alleged Fr Kael tried to kiss her but there was a blank after that. In June 2003, the DPP decided not to prosecute. Unknown priest A man living in a nursing home in Dublin complained that he had been abused by a priest in the diocese of Cloyne when he was a young boy. He had suffered a stroke and had to write the letter about the alleged abuse with his left hand. Msgr O'Callaghan asked the man for the name of the priest but he was unable to tell him. The man has since died. Fr Naal This priest was not accused of sexual abuse. But his former parish priest warned the diocese of Cloyne in 2005 that he had an "obsessive interest" in children and was bringing large groups of them to an isolated church for practice for church ceremonies. Fr Baird A student made a complaint in 2002 that he had been sexually abused by this priest. Fr Baird rejected the allegations and was put on administrative leave by Bishop Magee. He died in 2004 but the student continued his civil claim against his estate and the college. A settlement was agreed in 2009. Fr Caden This was a priest who abused a 16-year-old-boy -- who later also became a Catholic priest in the same diocese. The alleged abuse happened in the early 1980s and involved fondling, penetration and oral sex. Fr Caden sent a letter to the man where he admitted to having a "dark secret". Two priest teachers A man complained he had been sexually and physically abused by two priest teachers in the late 1960s and 1970s. The complaint was received by gardai in 2002 and was fully investigated. Both priests strongly denied the allegations. The man took court proceedings two years later -- but supplied different details of the alleged abuse in the diocesan college he attended. Fr Rion A man who had emigrated from the diocese of Cloyne to Australia alleged that he had been sexually abused by this priest in the 1970s. At the time, he was an altar boy but he did not complain until 2005. By then, Fr Rion was dead. Fr Kelven A man in his 70s made a complaint about abuse carried out many year earlier. He said it had been carried out in 1936 when he was 12 years old by Fr Kelven, who was now dead. When he wrote to Bishop Magee in 2002, he said he was writing because he "wanted to close it out of my mind and hopefully out of my memory". Fr Zephan This serving priest in the Cloyne diocese had a complaint made against him by a sacristan. She said she had seen him come out of the altar servers' room in his church many years ago "flustered" followed by an "embarrassed and distressed-looking" child. |
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