Priest trio arrested for indecent assault

Gardaí arrested an 80-year-old man yesterday and charged him with indecently assaulting 14 children while serving as a Missionaries of Sacred Heart priest and he declared: “I am totally innocent of those charges.”

Donnacha MacCarthaigh of the Missionaries of Sacred Heart, Western Rd, Cork, was one of three men from that order arrested and brought before Cork District Court on charges of indecently assaulting children while they were priests teaching in a school.

Sgt Anna Marie Guiney gave evidence of arresting Mr MacCarthaigh on 42 counts of indecent assault. They arise from complaints made by 14 men alleging they were indecently assaulted by the defendant at Coláiste An Chroí Naofa, Carraig Na Bhfear, Co Cork, on occasions between 1969 and 1989.