NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV
The case of a priest awaiting sentence for sexually abusing a brother and sister was officially closed on Thursday after his death certificate was handed into Belfast Crown Court.
The cases against 71-year-old Fr Joseph Steele, who may not have been mentally fit to plead, was initially listed last November, following his death.
The wheelchair bound paedophile had been living in Dublin, was due to have been sentenced by Belfast Recorder, Judge David McFarland for a total of ten sex offences.
Fr Steele, with an address at Kimmage Manor, Crumlin, Dublin, had admitted five counts of indecent assault and two of gross indecency committed against the male child on dates between January 1967 and January 1971.
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