Priest who told boy, 12, it was his fault he sexually assaulted him gets 18 months

Tom Brady (pictured) was aged 38 at the time of the assault on the boy who was led to believe as a young child that priests were like “God Almighty”. Photo: Hany Marzouk

A former parish priest has been sentenced to two years in prison with the final six months suspended for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy in a parochial house in Galway city in the mid-1990s.

Westport native, Tom Brady (66), with an address at 26 Cloonarkin Drive, Oranmore, Co. Galway, who was aged 38 at the time of the assault, told the boy it was his fault.

Five years later, when the then-teenage victim confronted him and asked him to take responsibility for his actions, Brady threatened to kill himself if he went to the Gardaí, telling the teen he would be responsible for his death.

The victim was in his mid-30s when he made a complaint to gardaí in 2016 after hearing about the Jimmy Saville cases in England, where a woman said that such abuse was never the child’s fault.

He told gardaí he had a strict Catholic upbringing and was led to believe as a young child that priests were like “God Almighty”. He said he was made to go to Mass with his family but after the abuse, he would never take Holy Communion from Brady.

He said he felt tremendous guilt throughout his teenage years and believed, as Brady had told him at the time, that it had been his fault.

Brady, who was once Parish Priest of Renmore, a quiet suburb of Galway city, and chaplain at the nearby GMIT and also Renmore Army Barracks, was stripped of his ministry and pastoral duties around the time of his initial trial before Galway Circuit Criminal Court in November 2019.

At the time, he denied 20 charges of sexually assaulting the boy on various dates between July 23, 1994, and March 25, 1996, at two Galway locations. The first of those charges related to a sexual assault taking place in a Parochial House on a date unknown between July 23, 1994, and May 17, 1995.

The remaining 19 charges related to alleged sexual assaults in a house at another Co. Galway location on dates between November 16, 1994, and March 25, 1996. The trial collapsed on the second day due to legal issues and was set for re-trial two years later - on November 23 last - on all 20 charges.

Brady pleaded guilty moments before his re-trial was due to begin last November to the first charge of sexually assaulting the boy at the Parochial House in Galway City on a date unknown between July 23, 1994, and May 17, 1995, while the remaining 19 charges remained on the indictment.

At Friday's sentence hearing, Detective Marie Connelly gave evidence Brady had brought the boy into a front room at the Parochial House where he initially abused him. Brady sat on a seat and pulled the boy down on top of him, touching him. The boy was confused and thought Brady was messing with him. 

He then took the boy down the hall, to a couch in the sitting room where he got him to take down his pants. Brady also took down his pants and performed a simulated sexual act on the boy between his legs.

Afterwards, Brady told the boy: “It’s your own fault this happened.” The detective confirmed the accused had no prior convictions and had not come to Garda attention since.

Confrontation

The victim told gardaí he had confronted Brady about the abuse five years later when he was 17 or 18, telling him he would go to the Gardaí, but Brady shouted and roared at him at the time.

He said Brady picked up the phone in his hallway, held the receiver towards him and told him to ring the Gardai, but that if he did, he (Brady) would drive his car off a bridge and the victim would be responsible for his death.

Brady denied the allegation made by the victim following his arrest, admitting only to “inappropriate hugging and touching.” 

Victim impact statement

In his victim impact statement to the court, the victim said he had often thought of killing himself but the love of his family kept him from doing so.

He said Brady had robbed him of his childhood and he now suffered from depression and the constant fear of being identified.

Mr Barry White SC, defending, said his client suffered a substantial fall from grace within the church when the allegations were made against him and restrictions were placed on his ministry at the time. And now, having pleaded guilty there were even greater restrictions imposed on him, he said.

“He has had a substantial fall from grace and it has been a substantial punishment for a man of the cloth to be stripped of his ministry and his parochial duties. I ask the court to extend to him such clemency as the court can do in the circumstances,” Mr White added.

Sentencing

Judge Brian O’Callaghan said the level of depravity involved was frightening and the venue in which it took place made it brazen. It was his view, he said, that members of the cloth should not be treated any differently to any other offender.

He said the reaction of Brady to his victim when he approached him five years later looking for help, only aggravated the gravity of his offending behaviour.

He placed the headline sentence at three years which he reduced to two years, with the final six months suspended for two years, due to Brady’s moral culpability, his entering a guilty plea, his previous good record, and a letter of apology which was handed into court.

The six months were suspended on condition Brady keep the peace for two years, remain under the supervision of the probation service for two years post-release, and attend any sex management/treatment programmes as directed by the service.

He noted the accused had already been automatically placed on the Sex Offenders Register, which he viewed as an additional penalty. On the application of prosecuting barrister, Geri Silke, the judge nolle prossed the remaining 19 charges.

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