NEW YORK/IRELAND
Democrat and Chronicle
Gary Craig, ROC October 10, 2013
Last week Liam Adams, the brother of Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, was convicted in Belfast of raping and sexually assaulting his daughter between 1977 and 1983.
The girl was then between 4 and 9 years old.
The conviction has roiled Northern Ireland, with accusations that Gerry Adams – a driving force in the troubled region’s peace process – was aware of his brother’s crimes and tried to protect him from prosecution.
The conviction has revived an unusual saga in the life of Liam Adams, an episode when, in 1984, he was in hiding in New York City – and sheltered by Father Patrick Moloney at Bonitas House, the home for troubled teens.
The Irish journalist Ed Moloney, who has written extensively about the Irish Republican Army and the so-called “Troubles” in Northern Ireland, was the first to write of the episode.
“During the worst years of the Troubles, Bonitas House became the first port of call for many indigent and refugee IRA men, activists who were on the run from the authorities in Ireland or who wanted a break from Belfast or Derry and were in need of a fresh identity and a start in New York well away from the prying eyes of the FBI,” Moloney wrote.
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