NORTHERN IRELAND
Lurgan Mail
Published on Friday 8 February 2013
FORMER Lurgan priest Fr Terence Rafferty was driven from Craigavon Court via a side entrance last Thursday after he was handed a community service punishment for sex offence charges.
Fr Rafferty, who was a curate in St Peter’s Parish, was told by the judge that he had abused the position of trust he had enjoyed as a priest.
The 50-year-old priest, who had pleaded guilty, was sentenced to 100 hours community service and three years’ probation for indecent assault on an underage girl.
Victims’ groups branded the punishment as disgraceful.
Rafferty, who was 38 years old at the time, abused the girl while she was below the age of consent. The indecent assaults occurred over a six-month period in 2001.
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