NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph
By John Cassidy
July 11 2017
A judge has refused to halt proceedings against a former Catholic school principal facing historical child sex abuse allegations.
Lawyers for Co Antrim man Richard Duffin (78) said he was too ill to stand trial on eight counts of indecent assault, two charges of cruelty to children under the age of 16 and two counts of common assault.
Judge Gordon Kerr QC said yesterday that although he was refusing to grant the abuse of process application, one remedy to the case instead of a trial could be to hold a “fact-find hearing” in which it would be decided if Duffin had committed the acts as alleged by three male complainants.
The offences are alleged to have taken place on dates between June 1975 and June 1981 against three males while he was principal of St Joseph’s Primary School in Ballymena. He denies all the charges.
Last week, Duffin’s legal team advanced an abuse of process application stating the accused was not fit to stand trial due a number of medical conditions, and asked for a stay in the proceedings against him.
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