Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Catholic Diocese of Limerick, Ireland (location withheld; tried at Limerick Circuit Court) · 2020

Ireland: priest jailed 3 years for sexually abusing a boy across several parishes in the Diocese of Limerick

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

priest, several parishes, Diocese of Limerick

Organization

Diocese of Limerick

Spiritual nexus

The priest worked across several parishes within the Diocese of Limerick and developed sustained, unsupervised access to the child victim over three years, which the court characterised as a 'most inappropriate and unhealthy' relationship rooted in his pastoral role.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2020-10-12 · conviction and sentence

    Limerick Circuit Court, Ireland. Convicted by jury on nine charges of sexual abuse of a minor (touching and masturbating in the victim's presence on numerous occasions) committed September 1999-December 2002, victim aged 12-13 at onset; sentenced by Judge Sean O Donnabhain to 3 years' imprisonment.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • priestly role across multiple parishes gave sustained access to the victim over several years
  • developed what the court called a 'most inappropriate and unhealthy' relationship with the child under cover of pastoral involvement

Primary record

Sources

aggregated court reporting criminal disposition and nexus BishopAccountability.org (reprint of Irish court press coverage), 'Limerick priest jailed for sexually abusing young boy' (Oct. 2020).

Court report confirming the Limerick Circuit Court conviction on nine counts, the 3-year sentence, and the diocesan multi-parish context.

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