Catholic Priest Finian Egan Found Guilty of Eight Counts of Child Sex Abuse Read More: Http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/catholic-Priest-Finian-Egan-Found-Guilty-Of-Eight-Counts-Of-Child-Sex-Abuse-20131104-2wwli.html#ixzz2jld8uzz4

By Paul Bibby
The Sydney Morning Herald
November 4, 2013

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/catholic-priest-finian-egan-found-guilty-of-eight-counts-of-child-sex-abuse-20131104-2wwli.html

Father Finian Egan at St Gerard's Catholic Church, Carlingford.

[with video]

A prominent Catholic priest who worked at dioceses across the state during a 40-year career has been found guilty of repeatedly sexually abusing young girls over the course of three decades.

A jury on Monday found Father Finian Egan, 71, guilty of seven counts of indecent assault and one count of rape in relation to attacks on girls aged 10 to 17 in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

He was found not guilty on one count of indecent assault.

Among the attacks committed by Egan, who worked as a priest and youth worker in multiple dioceses in Sydney and on the central coast, was the indecent assault of a 10-year-old girl at St Martha's Institution For Disadvantaged Girls at Leichhardt.

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"Father Egan pulled me onto his knee, he put his hands up my dress, pulled down my underwear and put his hands into my vagina," the victim said of the incident, which allegedly occurred in the church's sacristy.

"He had an erection."

The woman said Egan had commented that she had "beautiful hair", leading her to ask a nun to cut it off in the hope he would leave her alone.

"I thought if I didn't have nice hair he wouldn't be interested in grabbing hold of me," she said.

Another victim spoke of being raped by Egan in a church-owned house at The Entrance, on the central coast.

"I actually tried to kill myself – I wanted to die," the now 59-year-old said.

"I didn't know what to do, I didn't know how to make it end. I felt in my heart that the only thing I could do was to kill myself. I was too scared that they wouldn't believe me. A Catholic priest and a young girl? Back then you never heard about that stuff. I opened the door as the car was going ... He tried to grab hold of me ... He took me in his arms and said he was sorry."

The fourth woman allegedly encountered Egan at a church in Carlingford, where he practised until charges were laid in 2011. She did not go to police until after 2010, when Egan became the focus of media attention.

Egan argued in court that the allegations against him were false.

But the jury rejected that claim in court, finding the 71-year-old guilty of all but one count.

He will be sentenced later this year.