NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Independent
SHANE PHELAN PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDITOR – PUBLISHED 08 MARCH 2014
The former priest at the centre of the Down and Connor row was described by one of his victims as a “a violent sexual predator”.
Jim Donaghy (55) was jailed for 10 years in 2012 after being convicted of 23 sex abuse charges against a young adult and two teenage altar boys.
The former parish priest for Bangor, Co Down, stepped down in 2004 when a complaint against him was made to the police.
One of his victims, Pat McCafferty, was a student priest when he was first abused by Donaghy in Co Wexford.
Fr McCafferty described the abuse he suffered at the hands of Donaghy as “brutal”, “horrendous”, and worse than the death of his mother.
It started when Donaghy was a deacon and it continued after he was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Down and Connor.
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