By Toni Earls
Irish Emigrant
August 17 2010
http://www.irishemigrant.com/ie/go.asp?p=story&storyID=7190
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| The Alameda Police Department, where Patrick McCabe was initially questioned |
Irish former Catholic priest Patrick McCabe (74), awaits possible extradition to Ireland from a Santa Rita, CA jail as a result of alleged sexual abuse committed in inner-city Dublin from the mid-1970’s to the early 1980’s. Irish courts have issued some ten warrants for McCabe, now a resident of Alameda, CA. If convicted of these offences in an Irish courtroom, he faces a ten year maximum sentence.
Should McCabe be successfully extradited, he could be charged with nine counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted indecent assault. Six men, who were aged ten to fourteen when the abuse is said to have occurred, have come forward in the past three decades with allegations regarding the former priest.
McCabe, who left the priesthood in 1988 after being sent to California in 1983 by the Dublin Archdiocese and serving in the communities of North Bay and Sacramento, denies the charges. The first official claims against him were made in 1997 but were not pursued because he was no longer in Ireland.
One alleged victim, who spoke to Gardai in June, says he had taken drink and drugs to suppress memories of the assault, but that after some months of sobriety was able to bring himself to discuss it with the authorities. McCabe’s defense attorney David Cohen argues that this man’s testimony is not valid because of his difficulties with substance abuse. Another man, who first made accusations in 2008, has said that the trauma involved meant some thirty years had passed before he was able to talk about the assault.
Cohen’s efforts to prevent extradition include an argument that McCabe is elderly and in bad health, with diabetes and heart disease cited as concerns. However the prosecution counters that McCabe exercises regularly, by partaking in yoga and cycling, among other activities.
After leaving the priesthood in the US, McCabe worked as an administrator at a retirement village and lived a life so uneventful that his neighbors were shocked when the allegations became public knowledge. The San Francisco Chronicle reports locals describing McCabe as “a lovely person” and “the leprechaun of the neighborhood”. His address was unknown to Gardai until he was found by Interpol at an address in Alameda, near San Francisco in 2003. He was eventually questioned by Gardai in 2007 on three successive days.
The case has seen the Irish Catholic Church once more come under fire. The Murphy Report on Irish clerical abuse, though it does not name McCabe, describes the transfer of a priest to the California area within an identical timeframe. Victim advocates claim the Church knew of McCabe’s history, yet simply relocated him to California to continue practicing among new parishioners.
Court proceedings began on July 30th and the defense has requested the extradition hearing be set for October 25th.
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