IRELAND
Irish Independent
By Eimear Ni Bhraonain
Thursday April 19 2012
AN Irish priest who fled the US after a civil jury found him guilty of molesting an altar boy last night insisted on his innocence after absconding from the trial.
Fr Michael Kelly, from Ballingarry, Co Tipperary, yesterday said that he was in Ireland on “health grounds”.
The 62-year-old cleric has protested his innocence since he was first accused in 2008 of sexually abusing a student in the mid-1980s.
However, his actions this week have stunned even his own legal team as he flew to Ireland the day before he was due to give evidence in the second phase of his sexual abuse civil trial.
His friends in Ballingarry yesterday expressed shock and disbelief that he didn’t “stay and stand his ground”.
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