IRELAND
The Corkman

MARIA HERLIHY
Published 31/07/2014

A RETIRED priest who was found guilty of the serial sexual abuse of minors and teenagers by a secret Church court in March 2013 immediately appealed the decision – the result of that appeal is now expected early next year.

After the canonical decision, delivered in 2013, Dan Duane (76) immediately appealed the decision to the Apostolic Signature and the Pope, as he believed that his defence was not properly taken into account.

At Cork Circuit Criminal Court in 2011, Dan Duane denied a charge of indecently assaulting a woman, who is now middle aged, at an address in Cork in the Summer of 1980 when she was a teenager.

Mr Duane, of the Presbytery, Cecilstown, Mallow insisted that the woman’s allegations were “invented.” He was found not guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court three years ago. Judge Sean O’Donnabhain directed…