IRELAND
Irish Times
Barry Roche
Fri, Apr 24, 2015
A 76-year-old retired priest who sexually abused a seven-year-old girl while hearing her first confession has been jailed for two years.
John Calnan, who is no longer in ministry, was sentenced to three years in jail, with the final year suspended, after pleading guilty to sexual assaulting the girl in West Cork in 1989.
Sgt Maurice Downey told Cork Circuit Criminal Court that the girl was preparing for her First Holy Communion and Calnan was invited to her school to hear first confessions.
The confessions were being held in an kitchenette area and as Calnan began hearing the girl’s First Confession, he put his hands inside her underwear and digitally penetrated her.
The complainant, now a 34-year-old woman, told gardaí in her statement of complaint made in 2013 that Calnan also appeared to be doing something to himself at the time.
When the little girl finished her confession, Calnan re-arranged her clothing and gave her absolution and penance and told her that she could leave the kitchenette, said Sgt Downey.
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