71-yr-old is found guilty of sick act
Christopher Mccarthy A FORMER Christian Brother exposed and “stimulated” himself in front of a 18-year-old man at Knock Shrine, a court heard yesterday.
Christopher Mccarthy, from Co Limerick, denied the charges but was found guilty at Castlebar District Court in Co Mayo.
The 71-year-old also rejected the claim he beckoned the victim to come into a cubicle, although, in an earlier statement to gardai he admitted doing so.
Mccarthy told the court he had travelled to Knock on September 17, 2017, to celebrate the Feast Day of Padre Pio.
He admitted knocking on the door of the cubicle but denied seeing the man entering the toilet earlier.
Reporting restrictions were imposed by Judge Alan Mitchell prohibiting the naming of the victim.
But he refused an application by solicitor John Cussen that Mccarthy, of Sharwood Estate, Newcastlewest, not be named because of the “profound effect” it would have on him.
The victim said he was in a public toilet at the time when he heard what he described as “a soft knock”.
He added: “Then I saw a foot, a brown shoe, coming under the door a couple of times.” When he emerged from the cubicle he saw Mccarthy “stimulating himself and touching his genitals”. He added: “I was confused and in a state of disbelief over what was happening. I tried to hold the man by the coat until gardai arrived.
“He told me he had a knife before he ran away. I chased him before contacting the gardai.”
Judge Mitchell said the evidence of the injured party was the most credible and he was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt to convict. Sentencing was put back to allow a probation report to be completed and the case will come before the court again on March 20. Knock shrine