PERV PRIEST JAILED FOR GIRL ABUSE
Molester ‘ruined victim’s childhood’
BY STUART MacDONALD A PRIEST who was exposed as a pervert when his victim confronted him 50 years after he molested her was yesterday jailed for six months.
Father Michael Maher preyed on the girl at her home in 1968 when she was 12 and he was 25.
The abuse continued for four years, including at his parish house in Coatbridge.
Maher was close friends with the girl’s parents and regularly called at their Lanarkshire home.
The victim, who is now 62, kept her ordeal secret for decades but told her husband after Maher had conducted mass for her parents’ wedding anniversary. She contacted the priest by email in 2016. The 74-year-old, who was then at St Isidore’s, in Biggar, Lanarkshire, confessed his guilt.
Maher, of Stobo, Peeblesshire appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court and admitted lewd and indecent behaviour towards the girl between 1968 and 1972.
Sheriff Thomas Millar described Maher’s conduct as “abhorrent” and jailed him for six months.
Prosecutor Morag McClintock said of the victim: “She never got over the abuse and blamed it for ruining her childhood.”
Lene Doherty, defending, said of Maher: “He is ashamed. He accepts full responsibility for his actions.”
The Diocese of Motherwell said they were informed of a police probe in September last year.
A spokesman added: “Father Maher stood down immediately while investigations were conducted. The Diocese of Motherwell will extend whatever help it can to all those involved.”