IRELAND
Irish Independent
By Emer Connolly and Fiona Ferguson
Tuesday July 03 2012
A FORMER priest has been given an eight-year sentence after attempting to rape a young girl and for sexually assaulting her brother more than 30 years ago.
John Calnan (73) was moved to another parish after the girl told her mother about the abuse. The incident was first reported to gardai in May 2010.
The court heard that Calnan “admitted to paedophile tendencies” towards the girl and that there was “a grooming process”.
In her victim impact statement to the court, the girl said: “My mother complained to another priest but nothing was done. The man who abused me told me to keep it a secret and my mother also told me not to tell anyone.
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