Ex-priest ‘drunk’ While Abusing Boys

UTV
February 23, 2012

http://www.u.tv/Articles/Article.aspx?guid=19e10a56-dd2f-4c5f-b52c-7f4fda9e8e80

Daniel Curran has pleaded guilty to five charges of indecent assault against two young boys dating back to 1986.

He appeared at Downpatrick Court for a pre-sentence hearing on Thursday afternoon.

This is the fourth time Curran has been before a court for abusing children.

In the '80s and early '90s, he regularly took young boys from his parish at St Paul's in west Belfast to his isolated cottage near Tyrella beach in Co Down.

The boys went on the promise of an escape from the daily violence then raging on their streets - but instead they were plied with alcohol and sexually abused.

In 1995, Curran was sentenced to seven years in jail for abusing nine boys the youngest aged only eight years old.

These latest offences date back to the same period and follow the same pattern.

When arrested last year, Curran had told detectives he had been a former alcoholic and at that time in his life, he had been totally out of control.

His barrister told the court he could not remember the specifics of the charges as he had carried out so many offences and had been so influenced by drink.

When asked by the judge why his client had not volunteered the names of other boys when he was first arrested in 1994, the defence barrister told the court that Curran had been moved by the church to England for an eight month intensive course to deal with his alcoholism and attitudes to sexual matters.

The barrister said part of the course stressed the undesirabilty of naming other victims to protect their privacy.

Curran will be back in court on Wednesday for sentencing.