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.
Eamonn Crossan had already served two years in jail after abusing another boy in West Donegal in 1984 after plying him with alcohol.
The shamed cleric’s latest victim came forward after reading of the torment suffered by this young boy at the hands of Crossan in the parish of Kincasslagh.
The Diocese of Raphoe has now issued an appeal to any other victims of the Letterkenny-born former priest to come forward and seek help.
The latest survivor of Crossan’s reign of abuse told the now 73-year-old that he hopes in “rots in hell” when he appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court last week.
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.
Disturbing details of the abuse which took place at a number of different places in Co Donegal in the late 1980s and early 1990s were read out before an ‘in camera’ sitting of the court today.
The victim sat in the body of the court being comforted by his wife and flanked by two detectives.
The man bravely took the witness stand to read out his own victim impact statement as Judge John Aylmer asked for the court video camera to be pointed at the victim so he could be seen by Crossan.
He told Crossan “I hope that you return to rot where you came from. If there is a God, then there is definitely a Hell – and that is what is waiting on you.
He also told the disgraced cleric “After today, I will not let you steal another day of my life.”
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 (the victim) 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 victim went to the Gardai and made a complaint against Crossan after he had read about him being convicted of sexually abusing another boy in 2021.
The victim said he could not remember how many times he was abused by Crossan.
He served as an altar boy and the court heard the abuse would often happen while Crossan was wearing vestments and ready to say Mass as they were in the sacristy or the clerk’s room of a Church and also in the sacristy.
When he spoke to garda, the victim recalled that “There was no warning, he would just come up and do it.”
The man faced Crossan via the videolink and told him: “Having had any sense of a normal childhood stolen from me, I fought hard against the demons to function from day to day.”
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”
The man said he has struggled with mental health, anxiety and nightmares and has had suicidal thoughts and trust issues.
“I wondered if I was worthy of being here at all.”
He told Crossan that the trauma has affected his entire family “who you also groomed in order to have your way with a child.”
In December, Crossan, who was previously jailed for indecent assault, pleaded guilty to nine sample charges out of a total of 96, including counts of indecent assault and sexual assault.
The court heard that these were ‘representative counts’ and the guilty pleas were tendered on a full facts basis.
The guilty plea came after a lengthy discussion with his legal team after it was initially anticipated that a jury would be required for a trial.
The man initially told his wife about the abuse before a report was made to gardai.
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.
Crossan told detectives that his victim was “good fun to be with.” He said in an interview that there was body contact with the victim “for comfort and warmth” and also “a need for affection”.
Crossan would visit the family home of the victim, which he said was seen at the time as “a great honour” as there was “a reverence involved”. He would take children in his car and regularly buy them crisps, chocolate and Coke.
Crossan was heavily involved in GAA and the victim recalled being admonished by the priest for playing soccer.
The abuse endured by the victim included kissing on the lips and hugging and squeezing him tightly.
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.”
On one occasion, the victim recalled Crossan having his penis out and seeing semen on his leg with the priest telling the young boy what it was.
The victim said he would lay in the foetal position “Thinking of happier times and I just felt embarrassed.”
He said the abuse continued and he recalled on one occasion Crossan rubbing his penis against his own and referred to it as “sword fighting”.
Mr Peter Nolan BL, barrister for Crossan, told the court that his client has been in custody since August 2022 on these charges.
Crossan has been ostracised from his family and accommodation in County Kildare which was previously provided by the Raphoe Diocese, is no longer being made available to him.
Mr Nolan said Crossan remains hopeful that the Diocese will provide support in terms of accommodation.
“It is uncertain,” Mr Nolan said.
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.
Crossan told a probation officer that he “became a priest at ten and never became a teenager”.
“He had no interest in typical teenage activity and didn’t pursue any relationships.
Crossan has been classed as being of a medium risk of reoffending and is not deemed suitable for community service.
Mr Nolan said that he now understands that his behaviour was “inappropriate” and hearing the contents of the victim impact statement made Crossan realise “for the first time how much effect his behaviour had on another person.”
Crossan is an enhanced prisoner and goes to school and works in horticulture in the prison.
He has pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual assault, contrary to Section 2 of the Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act, 1990. These relate to separate unknown dates between April-July 1991 and July-October 1992 at separate name locations in County Donegal.
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.
Crossan also pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent assault contrary to common law relating to incidents where he indecently assaulted the male by cuddling him and kissing him on the lips on dates in 1987, 1988 and 1990.
Crossan pleaded guilty to three other charges of indecent assault contrary to common law. On each of these counts, he was charged that, at an address in County Donegal on unknown dates between March 1987 and March 1990, he did indecently assault a male by touching his genitals.
He was charged with another count of indecent assault contrary to common law at another address in County Donegal on a date unknown between July 1990 and December 1990. On this count, he is charged that he did indecently assault a male by touching his genitals.
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.
At that time, he was placed on the sex offenders register for ten years.
Crossan was a priest in the Raphoe Diocese from 1976, but when a complaint was made to the Church in 1998 he was immediately laicised.
Passing sentence Judge John Aylmer said the aggravating features in the case was the young age of the victim, the sustained nature of the abuse on a weekly basis for almost a six year period and the fact that the accused was in a position of authority into whose care the boy had been entrusted by his mother.
Judge Aylmer described the incidents were a “very grave breach of trust.”
The charges included 7 counts of indecent assault and 2 of sexual assault which are representative of 52 charges between March 1987 and December 1992.
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.
On count 30 he said the charge of sexual assault was of a similar nature and involved the touching of genitals and merited a sentence of 3 years in prison before mitigation.
He said counts 62, 85 and 96 are less serious offences and involved the kissing on the lips and cuddling and merited a sentence of years in before, also before mitigation.
Count 76 was an allegation of sexual assault involved kissing and cuddling but post-dated the 1991 legislation where a maximum jail sentence is one of five years and he placed it on the lower end of the scale and one which merited a sentence of 18 months.
In mitigation, Judge Aylmer said Crossan had pleaded guilty but noted that admissions were limited as was his remorse although his barrister Mr Peter Nolan did say Crossan had some grasp of the impact his offending had on the victim.
He noted that he remained in custody on remand since August, 2022 saying the accused man’s family had no longer contact with him and that he had nowhere to go.
He said the accused had attended the Granada Institute in 1998 after leaving the church but having heard the Probation report there had been limited admissions saying his attendance at the institute “appears not to have been very effective in rehabilitating him.”
He also noted that Crossan is now 73 and has become somewhat institutionalised since going into prison and that the Governor’s report is very positive and that he is an enhanced prisoner.
Taking the headline sentence of six years in prison, Judge Aylmer said that following mitigation he was reducing the sentence to one of 5 years.
Other sentences for the other charges pleaded to are to be served concurrently.
Because of his age, the need for rehabilitation and the need for reintegration, Judge Aylmer also suspended the final 12 months of this sentence meaning Crossan will serve a total of four years in prison.
He also backdated this sentence to when Crossan went into custody in August, 2022.
Judge Aylmer ordered Crossan to go under the supervision of the Probation Services when he leaves prison and attend all appointments of the Probation Services and not to have any unsupervised access to children in a work, sporting or leisure capacity.