A former parish priest has been sentenced to two years imprisonment after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a teenager over thirty years ago.
Eamon Crossan had plied his 13 year old victim with alcohol before carrying out the assault at the Parochial House in Kincasslagh on a date between 1984 and 1985.
In a letter forwarded to members of the media, the victim, Kevin O’Brien, waived his right to anonymity in the case.
Passing sentence at Letterkenny Circuit Court, Judge John Aylmer said the actions of the former priest had had “devastating consequences” for Mr O’Brien who had attempted to take his own life with the offence weighing heavily on him since the assault thirty-three years previously. It had, he said, represented a “gross breach of trust”.
The charge merited a sentence of five years but the Judge said he would reduce it to one of three years given mitigating factors and the fact that the accused had led a “blameless” life before and after the incident. Judge Aylmer suspended the final twelve months on condition that the accused keep the peace and be of good behaviour.
Crossan (69) was placed on the Sex Offenders register for ten years with the Judge stating that he was not to be placed in a position of unsupervised access to children through employment, leisure or sporting activities.