Eamonn Crossan had already served two years in jail after abusing another boy in West Donegal in 1984 after plying him with alcohol.
A former Donegal parish priest who served in a number of parishes across the county has been jailed for five years after admitting abusing a young boy in the 1980s.
The brave victim, now aged in his 40s, told Crossan that he would not allow him to steal another day of his life. Crossan appeared by videolink from the Midlands Prison after previously turning down bail claiming he had no place to go. Crossan 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 victim told how hearing details of a previous case against Crossan “pulled me back to the depths”. “Each word read like a punch to the face,” he said in his victim impact statement. “I froze as the name was revealed as Eamon Crossan. The words fell on me like a ton of bricks as the name of the priest who abused me was read. I felt sick to my stomach”
Detective Garda Ciaran O'Brien - who outlined the case to barrister for the State Ms Fiona Crawford BL - said that Crossan made “certain admissions”, but had disputed “certain evidence”. Crossan would later tell a probation officer that the victim's account was “99 per cent untrue” and maintained that his actions were not sexually motivated.
On multiple occasions, Crossan lured the victim into his bed and touched him. He recalled going to bed wearing pyjamas and waking up wearing nothing. The victim said the abuse became “normalised and it felt like he was just educating me.” Mr Nolan said his client has maintained that his actions were not sexually motivated. Crossan attended the Granada Institute following a report of abuse. There, he underwent a sex offender treatment programme.
He pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the male by touching his genitals and to another charge of sexually assaulting the male by cuddling him and kissing him on the lips. In 2021, Crossan was jailed for three years, with the final 12 months suspended, when he pleaded guilty to single charge of indecent assault against another boy at the parochial house in Kincasslagh on a date unknown between 1984 and 1985.
The Judge said the most serious offences were 8, 12, 19 and 22 which were charges of indecent assault which included the touching of the boy's genitals and before mitigation he said these merited a sentence of six years in prison.
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