IRELAND
Irish Sun
By DECLAN BRENNAN
A FORMER priest will walk free from jail this weekend despite admitting sexually abusing two young boys.
Patrick McCabe was sentenced to 18 months — but that was commuted to time served as he has spent the last 21 months in custody.
The 77-year-old had pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to molesting James Moran in 1977, and another boy in 1979. Both were 13 at the time.
Waiving his right to anonymity, Mr Moran, now 50, said McCabe’s vile actions ruined his life.
He said he went from being a happy child to contemplating suicide at 18. He added: “I failed my Leaving Cert, failed attempts at relationships but most importantly, felt I had failed my family. I experienced every emotion associated with self-loathing.”
McCabe, formerly of Alameda, California, was extradited here in June 2011.
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