A 73-year old former parish priest has been sentenced to four years imprisonment for the repeated sexual abuse of a young boy over a period of six years.
Eamonn Crossan, a native of Letterkenny, pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexual abuse and two counts of sexual abuse representative of a total of 52 counts. A nolle prosequi was entered by the State in relation to 44 further counts.
The accused appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court by video link yesterday, Wednesday, from the Midlands Prison where he has been in custody since August 4, 2022.
The offences related to dates at a number of locations in the county in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.
Crossan, pictured right, had been convicted three years ago of the sexual abuse of another young boy which had prompted his latest victim to come forward and report the offences to Gardaí.
In an emotionally charged Victim Impact Statement, read out at last week’s sitting of the Circuit Court, the victim told the accused to “return to rot where you came from.”
The survivor said he had fought against anxiety, mental health issues, and thoughts of suicide.
“I even wondered if I was worthy of being here at all, but after today, I will not let you steal another day of my life,” he told Crossan.
The court had heard that the abuse had started when the victim was around ten years of age after he had been sent to the then priest’s residence as the accused had the flu. He had stayed for three nights, initially on the floor, and subsequently in Crossan’s bed.
The abuse had become “normalised” because the victim stayed with the accused on hundreds of occasions after that.
The court was told that the victim had served as an altar boy and the abuse would sometimes occur when Crossan and the boy were in the sacristy before the accused said Mass.
Describing the offences as a “grave breach of trust”, Judge John Aylmer said the aggravating features included that they were carried out on a young child between the ages of 10 and fifteen and a half in a sustained manner on a weekly basis over a period of six years.
The accused was in a position of authority serving as the local parish priest and was involved in Gaelic football into whose care the victim had been entrusted by his mother.
The most serious offences involved the violation of the victim who was taken into the accused’s bed. The incidents had a “devastating psychological impact” on the child that continued to weigh on him into adulthood.
Referring to the four counts of indecent assault where the accused touched the victim’s genitals, Judge Aylmer placed them in the mid-range of such offences and said it merited a period of six years imprisonment.
A further account of sexual assault involving touching the young victim’s genitals merited a maximum sentence of five years which the judge reduced to one of three years.
Three other counts of indecent assault where the accused kissed the child on the lips and engaged in cuddling him merited a sentence of three years.
An allegation of sexual assault, also involving kissing and cuddling, he, Judge Aylmer, placed at the lower end of the scale, meriting a sentence of 18 months imprisonment.
Pointing to the mitigating circumstances, the judge said the defendant had entered a plea of guilty, albeit being a late plea, which avoided the victim the further trauma of cross-examination in a trial.
“But the accused remains in denial and remorse is limited and empathy for the victim is limited.”
Judge Aylmer sentenced the accused to five years imprisonment but suspended the final 12 months on condition that he enter a bond of €100 to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for a period of 12 months.
He was also ordered to go under the supervision of the Probation Services and to comply with all directions given.
Crossan had been jailed for two years in 2021 in relation to charges of abuse of another boy.
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