SF MLA breaks silence over abuse from paedophile priest

NORTHERN IRELAND
ITV

March 23, 2018

A senior Sinn Fein politician has revealed a notorious paedophile priest physically abused him when he was a schoolboy and tried to sexually groom him.

Conor Murphy has recounted how the late Malachy Finnegan dragged him into an office and savagely beat him with a stick before asking a series of explicit questions, including whether he loved him.

Speaking to the Press Association, Mr Murphy outlined his experiences in the late 1970s at the hands of Finnegan at St Colman’s College in Newry, Co Down.

Mr Murphy, who attended St Colman’s from 1975 to 1980, said he was angry that no one in authority stopped Finnegan’s reign of abuse, despite his sexual interest in young boys being common knowledge within the school.

He has demanded a full investigation.

The high-profile politician is the latest former pupil of St Colman’s to reveal their treatment at the hands of the abusive and sadistic cleric, whom he described as a “violent, volatile, bullying drunkard”.

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