A 77-year-old former Spiritan priest has been sentenced to four years in prison, with the final year suspended, for the indecent assault of a schoolboy in a well-known Tipperary school.
Before sentence was handed down, Clonmel Circuit Court heard the victim would never forget the panic he felt as he stood outside Henry Moloney's bedroom door, having been summoned there by him, knowing what was going to happen to him inside the room.
Moloney, with an address at Kimmage Manor, a Spiritan care home, was accompanied by a Spiritan priest at today's hearing. Earlier this year, at his own request, Pope Francis laicised him.
His victim, who cannot be named, sat at the back of the court with a family member.
Earlier this month, Moloney had been found guilty on seven counts of indecent assault in Rockwell College, where his male victim was a first-year border in 1981 and 1982.
The survivor's victim impact statement read on his behalf today, recalled him panicking when summoned to Moloney's bedroom.
He had "nobody to turn to", being "a lonely and confused child with a mother who put priests on a pedestal".
The abuse had blighted his life. He praised his wife, recalling her relief when a counsellor found what was influencing his behaviour.
Mr Justice Thomas Teehan said the crimes had had a devastating effect on Moloney's victim.
He was told that Moloney, who had already been convicted in 2000 and 2009 of indecently assaulting children, had pleaded guilty back then and had served a 15-month prison sentence.
But Judge Teehan emphasised that Moloney had denied these most recent charges, as was his right.
The judge said the five-day trial had been very traumatic for his victim and sentenced Moloney to four years in prison with the final year suspended on condition he return to Kimmage Manor on his release and live under strict supervision.
The judge said Moloney had pleaded guilty at his previous trials but had denied today's charges.
He said it was his right to contest the charges but that the two weeks during which the trial took place had been very traumatic for his victim.
After sentencing, Maloney's former order said it deeply regrets and apologizes for the hurt caused by such abhorrent behaviour.
