Retired Franciscan brother jailed for 11 years for historic rape of boy (13)

Eimear Dodd

A retired Franciscan brother and convicted sex offender who abused a teenage boy while working as a teacher almost 30 years ago has been jailed for 11 years.

Seamus O’Callaghan (82) was convicted of one count of anal rape following a Central Criminal Court trial in May.

The boy was approximately 13 years old when the offending occurred at an Offaly secondary school, where he was a student, on a date between August 1998 and December 1999.

The court heard that the injured party wishes to retain his right to anonymity, but has no difficulty with O’Callaghan, of Gortroe, Corrandulla, Co Galway, being named in reporting of the case.

O’Callaghan has 11 previous convictions for indecent assault, relating to three different complainants – all teenage boys - at a different school in Co Offaly between 1978 and 1990.

He received a five-year sentence at Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court in 2006 for this offending.

In a victim impact statement read to the court by an investigating garda, the man said the incident “took my childhood away for many years”.

He said his “sexual instinct was all messed up” afterwards and he left school the following year. He said he went to work, but struggled to keep working due to depression.

He said he turned to alcohol to try to block the memories, made several suicide attempts and is now prescribed anti-psychotics. He said his relationships also suffered.

Addressing his abuser, the injured party said “you took away my childhood and destroyed my life in so many ways you could not remember”.

Imposing sentence on Monday, Judge Kerida Naidoo noted that the course of a person’s life but for abuse can’t be known, but it is “clear” that this abuse did have a “significant, long-lasting impact” on the victim’s ability to live a “normal fulfilling life”.

The judge said it was aggravating that this offence involved some violence beyond that inherent in the act of rape, along with the age disparity, the breach of trust and O’Callaghan’s previous convictions.

Justice Naidoo set a headline sentence of 13 years, which he reduced to 11 years taking into account O’Callaghan’s age, medical issues and other personal circumstances.

The judge noted that O’Callaghan had cooperated with the investigation and answered questions, but those answers “were found by the jury to in effect be false self-serving denials”.

He said the court considered the defence’s submission in relation to the passage of time since this offending occurred to be of limited mitigation, noting that O’Callaghan “has been at liberty without having to face consequences of his actions” for many years.

Detective Garda Elaine Conlon told Diana Stuart, prosecuting, that the victim was anally raped by O’Callaghan (then 53) in a bathroom at the school.

The injured party said it was very painful for 10 to 15 seconds and he was confused by what was happening to him.

He managed to push O’Callaghan off him. The teacher fell to the floor, and the boy recognised him.

Investigation

The injured party made a complaint to gardaí in 2021. The investigation made a data access request to the Franciscan order, which responded some time later confirming O’Callaghan’s teaching posts.

O’Callaghan was voluntarily interviewed in July 2022, telling gardaí that he vaguely remembered the injured party’s name and denying the allegation.

Det Gda Conlon agreed with defence counsel that O’Callaghan has been living in Galway with other retired members of the Franciscan order and has not come to other garda attention during this period.

Defence counsel asked the court to take into account O’Callaghan’s age, poor health and that he has not come to garda attention over the last 18 years since his release from custody on the other sentence.

She submitted to the court that the severity of the sentence will be “more crushing” given O’Callaghan’s age.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help. In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.