Women Who Cheered Priest in Court Freed

By Michael Donnelly
Belfast Telegraph
July 24, 2012

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/women-who-cheered-priest-in-court-freed-16188810.html

Two women who cheered in court as a priest was cleared of sex abuse charges have walked free from court themselves after apologising for the outburst.

The women had clapped and cheered when Fr Eugene Boland (66), of Killyclogher Road, Omagh, was cleared of indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl 20 years ago in parochial house in Derry.

The women — Sarah Kerrigan from Patrick Street, Londonderry, and Michelle Ruddy, of Larraghirrell, in Culdaff, Co Donegal — had been charged with contempt of court. They appeared visibly relieved when Judge Stephen Fowler said he would take the matter no further.

Judge Fowler told the women, who could have been jailed, that by their apology they had "purged their contempt" at Londonderry Crown Court on June 27.

The judge, sitting in Belfast's Laganside Courthouse, said while the public had a right to attend court, they also had to show respect and to respect the dignity of everyone else attending.