Paedophile may emigrate to Canada

A PAEDOPHILE ex-priest told the creator of an award-winning film about his depraved acts that he is considering moving to Canada when the film is made public.

Oliver O’Grady and his years of repeated abuse of children in California form the focus of ‘Deliver Us From Evil’, the award winning documentary due to hit cinema screens in the US on Friday.

O’Grady is now living in Ireland, but according to Amy Berg, creator of the film, while filming he said he might move to Canada upon the release of the documentary.

The 60-year-old has described the film as the most honest confession of his life.

Large periods of that life have been dominated by the abuse of children who, as one victim described it, saw him as the ‘closest thing to God they knew’.

During a videotaped deposition as part of a lawsuit raised by some of his victims O’Grady described intricately how he would try to gain the children’s confidence.

He started off by hugging the child. “The hugging starts off and then I might just drop my hands, all the time looking for permission.

“If I wasn’t getting a resistance, that was allowing me to go further and further.”

He even said that he did not think his victims liked being sexual with him but, at times, they tolerated it.

“If children were dressing or undressing after having a swim or something like that, there might be indications that I might interpret as a sort of flirtatious action,” he said.

O’Grady was educated by the Christian Brothers in Limerick city and then went to a seminary in Thurles.

He was defrocked and laicised while in prison in California serving seven years for the molestation of two brothers. He was allowed back to Ireland on condition that he abide by strict child abuse prevention measures. Gardaí in the town where he lived kept in contact with him and his name has been placed on the sex offenders register.

Amy Berg has said in the film’s production notes that when she met him in Dublin, even though she was disgusted over his crimes, she found him a ‘modest and ingratiating man who was forthcoming about his ‘illness’.

She shot ten days of interviews with him in Dublin before returning to the US to meet with and interview his victims.

Even though the film has not officially been released yet and remains unrated, it is already receiving critical acclaim. It won the best documentary category at the Los Angeles film festival. It is set to be released in LA and New York first. No European release date has been revealed as yet.