Ex-priest avoids jail for abusing boy aged 12 in seaside cottage
A PAEDOPHILE former priest who sexually abused a boy more than 20 years ago walked free from court yesterday after he was handed a community service order.
Daniel Curran indecently assaulted the 12-year-old during an overnight stay at his family cottage in Tyrella, Co Down in January 1991.
In Downpatrick Crown Court yesterday, Judge Piers Grant told Curran: “It was your typical modus operandai to take young boys to this remote cottage where you would abuse them sexually.”
Curran (68), from Bryansford Avenue in Newcastle, was handed a community service order of 200 hours.
A registered sex offender since 1995, Curran has received 15 years of jail sentences — both immediate and suspended — for similar offences in 1977, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1990 and 1991.
Appearing in the dock in a black and red raincoat, Curran gave no reaction to the judge’s remarks.
The victim reported the incident to police in 2015, with the judge saying his mother described how “he changed in character significantly and adversely”.
Curran manipulated the boy’s parents into allowing him to stay at the cottage, saying that two other boys wouldn’t go without him.
Each of the boys was given a glass of whiskey before they all went to sleep in the same double bed with their clothes on.
The 12-year-old victim got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, but found Curran waiting for him naked from the waist down. The victim was then forced to put his hand on Curran’s private parts.
In December 2016, Curran told police that he remembered the other two boys’ names but could not recall the victim.
He did not deny the offences, but expressed regret and said that he was a chronic alcoholic at the time.
Judge Grant said “the planned and premeditated” attack by Curran had “wickedly” taken advantage of widespread trust in the church at the time.
In imposing the community service, he said the offence would not have increased Curran’s previous sentence if it was known about at the time.
The former priest’s guilty plea, remorse and an assessment of a low risk of reoffending were also considered.
Judges are bound by sentencing guidelines and must take into account mitigating circumstances, such as early guilty pleas, co-operation with police and remorse, as well as aggravating factors such as intent and excessive violence.
The NSPCC called Curran’s attack “appalling” and said “many survivors do not reveal their ordeal at the time so it is vital that they are able to access support — as well as justice — when they are eventually able to disclose what happened to them”.
“We would urge survivors of sexual abuse to come forward in the knowledge that their voices will be heard,” it added.