A former priest will be sentenced next Wednesday for sexually assaulting and indecently assaulting a young boy in Co Donegal in the 1980s and 1990s.
Eamonn Crossan, 73, pleaded guilty to nine sample charges out of a total of 96 charges in relation to one victim, a boy who was aged between 10 and 15 at the time of the offences.
The State entered a nolle prosequi in relation to 44 charges at Letterkenny Circuit Court.
The guilty pleas related to seven counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault.
The court heard that the victim in this case went to gardaí after he heard that Crossan had been convicted of sexually abusing another boy in 2021.
In that case he was sentenced to three years in jail with the final 12 months suspended.
When the man read about the case, he said each word he read was like a punch in the face.
Crosson, whose address was given as the Midlands Prison, appeared in court via video link.
The court was told that he was a regular visitor at the boy's home and that the boy first remembers something happening when he was about 10 and was sent to stay with the priest to look after him when the priest had the flu.
He told gardaí that it became very regular for him to stay over and that the abuse progressed very quickly, and that he would feel embarrassed and ashamed after the abuse.
He would spend most of the time in the fetal position thinking of happier things.
The incidents became so regular that it became normalised, and he would stay over in the priest's bed hundreds of times, he said.
Fiona Crawford BL for the prosecution said the offences occurred in a number of locations in Co Donegal and stopped in the early 1990s, after the boy told the priest that he did not like the things he was doing to him.
In a victim impact statement, which he read out in court, the man spoke of the abuse he suffered and how any sense of a normal childhood was stolen from him, and how he fought against the demons.
When he heard about the conviction for abuse he said his life left his body as he read the name of the same man who had abused him for years.
"I felt sick to my stomach," he said and recalled how he had struggled with his mental health, anxiety and thoughts of suicide.
He said he found it difficult to study at school and was wondering whether he was even worthy to be here, asking why this was happening to him.
He told the court that the trauma affects him and his family "who were also lied to, to have your way with a child".
After today, "I will not let you steal another day of my life," he said.
"If there is a God then there is almost definitely a hell and that is what is waiting for you."
Defence Barrister Peter Nolan said there was no doubt there was an abuse of trust in this case and a certain amount of grooming over a long period of time.
He said Crossan has minimalised the extent of his abusive behaviour and maintained that his actions were not sexually motivated and nothing sexual happened.
He said his client had bail granted in this case but was not in a position to take it up as he had nowhere to go, neither his family nor the church would give him accommodation.
Mr Nolan said his client was removed from the priesthood in 1998 and a risk assessment by the probation service puts him at medium risk of reoffending.
He fully accepts that it has been a difficult situation for the victim in this case and that what happened should not have happened.
Judge John Aylmer said he would need time to consider the case, and would sentence Crossan next Wednesday.
