IRELAND
Irish independent
Tim Healy
PUBLISHED
02/12/2016
A former Catholic priest being sued for alleged sexual abuse of a student in the school where he was chaplain has claimed revenge is the motivation behind the allegations, the High Court heard.
The man, who was a chaplain in the school in the south east, had denied at a school disciplinary hearing that sexual activity of any kind took place with the girl, the court heard. He denied her claims the activity took place in a number of places including at the girl’s home when her parents were away, when she was babysitting, in the chaplain’s office, or his car.
He told the disciplinary hearing that at one stage he pleaded with the girl to stop and rejected her by telling her to “f*** off”. “I wanted to get out from under her clutches,” he said.
The now 28-year old woman has sued, alleging between 2004 and 2007 she was repeatedly and wrongfully physically and sexually assaulted, falsely imprisoned and sexually abused and subjected to sexualised behaviour by the then-Catholic chaplain and teacher in her secondary school. She has also sued the school and the local bishop who deny the claims.
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