A retired school principal who repeatedly abused young boys at a Dublin school over a 40-year period has been jailed again for four years.
Patrick Harte, 84, was described by the judge today as "a sexual predator" who pre-planned his repeated attacks on the school children and lacked "remorse and contrition".
Harte was employed as a teacher at Sancta Maria Christian Brothers school on Synge Street Dublin from 1967 to 2007, latterly as a principal.
After a trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last December, a jury convicted Harte of 17 counts of indecent or sexual assault committed against boys in various date ranges between 1969 and 1986
It is the fourth time he has been prosecuted and brings his total to 89 convictions for indecent or sexual assaults on 32 victims.
In December 2024, Harte was jailed for four years for the sexual abuse of a further eight former primary school students on dates between 1967 and 1970. Reporting restrictions were in place while his remaining trials took place. He was also jailed for three years for indecent assault in 2020.
Harte pleaded not guilty, has refused to accept the verdict of the jury and continues to maintain his innocence.
Sentencing Harte today, Judge Martina Baxter said that the offences were repetitive and continued in "a brazen fashion".
She said they occurred in a classroom that had an atmosphere of "physical punishment and fear" and said the young boys were humiliated being abused in public in front of their classmates.
Judge Baxter commended the victims for coming forward and giving evidence during trial, noting that some of them travelled from abroad and others travelled from other areas of Ireland.
She described the victim impact statements provided to the court as "eloquent" and "poignant" and said they were a powerful reminder of how such traumas impact children.
Judge Baxter said Harte has "no prospect of rehabilitation".
She noted that there was a change in legislation during the offending period which increased the penalty available to the court from a maximum of two years to one of 10 years.
Judge Baxter imposed various different sentences and ordered that all of those sentences should be concurrent to each other. The effective sentence is a prison term of four years.
She did not suspend any part of the sentence as she said: "there is no evidence of remorse or insight, no evidential basis to justify a suspended sentence".
Additional reporting: Declan Brennan and Sonya McLean
