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  Mother Claims 'Abuse' by Priest

UTV [Ireland]
May 16, 2007

http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=82297&pt=n

A 45-year-old mother of two became visibly upset today as she told a jury alleged details of how she was sexually abused by a priest almost 30 years ago.

She alleged that Fr. Patrick Joseph Crilly, 63, from Tobermore Road, Desertmartin, County Derry, had abused her in the Derry diocesan pastoral centre in Bishop Street between September 1977 and November 1980.

At the time the defendant, who denies four charges of indecently assaulting the witness, was the diocesan Director of Vocations whom the witness had gone to for counselling about becoming a nun.

The alleged injured party said the abuse took place when she sat on the defendant's knees during some of the counselling sessions. She told the jury at Derry Crown Court that at the time she did not know it was abuse and that it should not happen.

She rejected a defence assertion that Fr. Crilly had given her a hug out of Christian decency because of school and family problems she was having at the time.

The trial continues.

 
 

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