This is the moment we confronted depraved former priest and serial child abuser Con Cunningham on the streets of the capital ? where he now lives in a homeless hostel located just around the corner from a primary school.
The defrocked Donegal cleric was sentenced to 15 months in prison in July 2021 for abusing two young girls in his native Donegal during the 1970s.
This followed a previous conviction dating from November 2018 when he was given a nine month sentence for three counts of indecent assault against a separate girl. But when asked on Wednesday last whether he would like to offer an apology to the children he sexually abused, the convicted pervert declined to do so.
?No, there?s nothing I want to say about any of that,? he told our reporter.
A former resident in the hostel where the 88-year-old is now living raised the alarm about Cunningham?s location over concerns about its proximity to St Paul?s Primary School in Dublin 7. He told us: ?Obviously these people have to go somewhere but this hostel is in Dublin city centre, 30 seconds from a huge apartment complex that always has a handful of kids playing unsupervised whenever I walk past, and one minute away from St Paul?s Primary School.
?Before ending up homeless, I spent years teaching English in Asia, and most of that time was kindergarten. ?That was the work I have always been most proud of and I take the safety of minors extremely seriously, so I?m very unimpressed by this.?
The Sunday World understands shamed ex-cleric Cunningham has been living at the hostel for several months.
Cunningham, now aged 88, served less than a year of the 15 months he was sentenced to after he pleaded guilty to eight counts of indecent assaults on two young sisters in the Fanad region between 1971 and 1975. Passing sentence in July 2021, Judge John Aylmer said the abuse had had an appalling impact on the lives of victims Margaret and Paula Martin. The women, who were aged between 11 and 13 years and 9 and 12 years at the time, waived their right to anonymity to name Cunningham. The abuse took place at locations in Donegal including the girls? home, the parochial house in Fanavolty in Fanad and also at the Loreto College buildings.
One of the sisters told how the priest abused her when her mother had gone to her grandmother?s wake. She said he was ?like an animal? as he sexually abused her. On another occasion he made them sit on his lap on an armchair in the parlour of his house as he abused them. One of the women said that when he came to live in their community he became like a great uncle to them, and would shower them with sweets, money and tracksuits before the abuse began. He would eat all his meals in their home and would meet parishioners there and basically ?had the run of the house.?
The Martin sisters sat in Letterkenny Circuit Court as their abuser spoke only the word ?guilty? when the various charges were put to him. The court was told he had acknowledged his crimes as far back as 2002.
The priest was sent to the Granada Institute for sex abusers in Dublin but they deemed that Cunningham posed no danger and was allowed to continue his ministry.
In 2002, following the Ryan Commission, garda? received files on allegations against the clergy including those of the two women. The woman met with the then Bishop of Raphoe, Dr Phillip Boyce, who gave them the opportunity to address their issues. Amongst the women?s demands was that Cunningham have no further access to children and that the Catholic Church pay for counselling needed to cope with the abuse. The Church paid for the counselling one of the women received from 1994 to 1999. Cunningham was also prevented from saying mass publicly but could say mass in his own private dwelling. A letter in which the priest admitted his crimes was also shown to the two victims but they were not given a copy of this letter.
It was only in 2020 when garda? got a search warrant to recover documents from the Bishop?s Palace in Letterkenny that these and other documents were recovered. Barrister for Cunningham, Mr Colm Smyth, SC, said his client had asked him to proffer an open and profound apology and to say sorry for the hurt and damage caused by his assaults, which were a grievous breach of trust.
He added that since these crimes which took place in the 1970s, he has led a blameless life.
Judge John Aylmer said he placed the cases at the upper end of the scale of such offences which merited a sentence of 20 months in jail before mitigation. He reduced this to 15 months taking into account the guilty plea, the fact that Cunningham pleaded to his crimes as far back as 2002 and has had the case ?hanging over him? for that time. He also made reference to his age, his remorse and also that he was ?put out of his ministry? when he admitted his crimes.
Cunningham?s 2018 convictions related to equally horrendous acts of abuse against a young girl. The court heard the pervert had ?simulated sex? with a girl as he drove her to Dublin in his car. In jailing Cunningham on that occasion, Judge John Aylmer said he did not accept that the offences were at the ?lower end of the scale?. The judge said while no penetration had taken place the ex-priest put his tongue down her throat, simulated oral sex and had pushed the child?s face into his crotch until he satisfied himself. He had left the child with stains and bruising to her genital area from ?simulated sex?.
The judge said the defendant had climbed on top of the girl and a ?significant level of both force and violence? was used. The judge said given the defendant?s position of authority as a priest, this was ?a grievous breach of trust against the young girl and her family?.
Originally Posted by Nic B
Reply With Quote
