AN APPEAL by a Co Donegal priest against his conviction for raping a teenage parishioner in the church sacristy more than 20 years ago has been adjourned by the Court of Criminal Appeal.
Fr Daniel Doherty (49), Derriscleigh, Carrigart, has appealed his conviction on two charges each of rape and indecent assault on foot of which he is serving a seven-year sentence.
The three-judge appeal court yesterday upheld arguments on behalf of Doherty that the trial judge should not have permitted the reading to the jury of statements of witnesses who had not attended the trial.
Ms Justice Fidelma Macken said the appeal court's preliminary view was that the inclusion of the statements was "procedurally impermissible".
The court would set out the consequences of that view after it had heard the balance of the appeal, she said.
The judge added the appeal court hoped to be able to resume the appeal hearing "as early as possible" as this was "an important case".
In May 2006, a jury found Doherty guilty of raping a then 13- year-old girl in a church sacristy in 1985 and also found he had indecently assaulted her in the parochial house in 1985 and in his car in December 1984.
Mr Justice Philip O'Sullivan sentenced Doherty to a total of seven years in prison and certified him to be registered as a sex offender under the legislation.
Doherty had denied all the charges and his appeal against his conviction and sentence came before the appeal court yesterday, with Ms Justice Macken presiding, sitting with Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice John Edwards.
Moving the appeal, Alexander Owens SC, for Doherty, argued that statements taken from two witnesses who were in the US and unavailable for the trial should not have been read out before the jury at Doherty's trial.
The putting of the statements before the jury did not comply with the Criminal Procedures Act, he said. Neither the defence nor the prosecution in the trial had "spotted the problem", he added.
Opposing the appeal, Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said that in the overall context of the trial, the inclusion of the statements did not affect the outcome one way or another.
During Doherty's trial at the Central Criminal Court, the woman said Doherty had stopped his car at a pier while driving her home one night in December 1984 and had then sexually assaulted her. She said he had told her not to tell anyone and that anybody would believe a priest before believing her.
She said he had raped her for the first time in the toilet at the sacristy in 1985 and that a second rape happened in the sacristy after she and another had attended confession.
The woman first made her allegations formally in a letter to the Bishop of Raphoe, Dr Séamus Hegarty, in 2003. That led to the Garda investigation and to the trial.
During the 1980s, a complaint to her teachers did not lead to a proper investigation by the school, while gardaí were not contacted until she made her formal allegations 18 years later.