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Ex-Catholic priest John Joseph Farrell found guilty on 10 more child sex offences

By Emma Partrdige
Sydney Morning Herald
February 17, 2016

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/catholic-priest-john-joseph-farrell-found-guilty-on-10-more-child-sex-offences-20160216-gmvr36.html

John Joseph Farrell during a hearing at Armidale Court.
Photo by Barry Smith

A former Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing three young altar boys in regional NSW in the 1980s has been found guilty in a Sydney court of 10 child sex offences. 

John Joseph Farrell, also known as "Father F", was tried in the Downing Centre District Court for 17 offences he was accused of committing against the boys, aged 11 and 12, between 1980 and 1984.

Fairfax Media can reveal his identity after Judge Peter Zahra late on Tuesday lifted a suppression order that had covered his name for more than 2½ years.

Late on Tuesday, after 2½ days of deliberations, the jury found Farrell guilty on 10 counts and not guilty on the other seven.

The court heard Farrell, who is no longer a priest, has already pleaded guilty to 40 other child sex offences and is awaiting sentencing for those crimes.

Farrell was remanded into custody by a Supreme Court judge last year, when he was denied bail. He remains in custody after Tuesday's verdict.

During the trial, Crown prosecutor Bryan Rowe outlined a series of alleged incidents in which Farrell groped, molested, raped or forced oral sex on the boys.

He said one of the boys was the victim of 11 offences, including repeated indecent assaults during trips to a swimming pool.

But in court Farrell denied that any of the incidents occurred.

"I never asked him to go into the cellar," the accused said of one incident in which he allegedly ordered an altar boy to go down into a cellar under the church altar and then forced him to take part in oral sex.

The former priest also denied a string of other allegations, including that he grabbed and attempted to stroke the penis of a young boy at the swimming pool, that he forced another to participate in oral sex in the presbytery, and that he raped the same boy in the priest's bedroom. 

Farrell was tried on 17 charges when the trial began on February 2. 

However, last week Judge Zahra directed the jury to find the accused not guilty on two counts.

Farrell is expected to appear in court for his sentencing hearing, which has been scheduled for April 8 before Judge Zahra. 

Farrell was first charged in 2012 by investigators from Strike Force Glenroe, an operation set up by detectives from the Sex Crimes Squad and local detectives in 2012 to investigate claims of alleged sexual abuse.

 




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