Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Catholic Greenock, Inverclyde, Scotland, United Kingdom (tried at High Court sitting in Paisley) · 2024

Scotland: priest convicted of what the judge called 'crimes today classified as rape,' extradited from Australia after decades

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

priest, St Laurence's Church, Greenock

Organization

St Laurence's Church, Greenock

Spiritual nexus

Cassidy was a priest at St Laurence's Church, Greenock, when he began indecently assaulting a 16-year-old parishioner in 1973, continuing the abuse for years at a caravan in Lossiemouth before fleeing to Australia, from where he was extradited in 2024 to face trial.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. Date in cited record · conviction (extradited from Australia October 2024)

    High Court of Justiciary, sitting in Paisley, Scotland. Convicted by jury of indecently assaulting a 16-year-old male on multiple occasions 1973-1974 at St Laurence's Church, Greenock, and further occasions 1974-1977 at a caravan in Lossiemouth. Judge Sheena Fraser told him the crimes would today be classified as rape; sentencing deferred pending reports, with the offender placed on the sex offenders register and remanded.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • priestly access to a 16-year-old boy at his own church
  • abuse continued off church grounds, at a caravan, showing the relationship of authority extended beyond the parish building
  • fled to Australia, evading justice for decades until extradition

Primary record

Sources

regional newspaper court reporting criminal disposition and nexus Irvine Times, 'Former Greenock priest guilty of indecent assaults on boys.'

Court report confirming the High Court/Paisley trial, the St Laurence's Church and Lossiemouth caravan locations, the extradition from Australia, and the judge's rape characterisation.

Related record

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