THE jury in the case in which a Donegal parish priest denies allegations of sexual abuse of altar boys will today visit locations in Derry where the abuse is alleged to have taken place.
At Armagh Crown Court the Jury heard that the priest dismissed the allegations as a "tissue of lies and a figment of the imagination" in an interview with a senior RUC officer.
Father Edward Kilpatrick (53), of Murlough, Co Donegal, said he had been friendly with his accuser but claimed there was nothing hidden about their friendship. "It was quite open," he told the detective inspector investigating the complaint.
The priest "totally, totally and absolutely" denied the allegation of the former altar boy in the course of the interview, Insp Robert Paul of the RUC said in evidence. Father Kilpatrick said he would deny to his dying day accusations of sexual assault made by another former altar boy, now a 30 year old civil servant.
The hearing was in its sixth day on Wednesday. The court did not sit yesterday but today the jury of six men and six women will bee taken by bus to Derry to visit locations mentioned in evidence.
The allegations centre on the sacristy in Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Steelstown parish, the priest's sittingroom and bedroom in the parochial house and his room in the parochial presbytery at St Eugene's Cathedral.
Father Kilpatrick is denying 19 charges of gross indecency and indecent assault of two altar boys going back over 20 years to March 1975, when he was a curate in Steelstown.
According to Insp Paul's evidence, the priest rejected the allegations as a "comeback at the church which he symbolised". He suggested the man was bitter and antagonistic. "I suspect he is after money, Father Kilpatrick stated. He said that when his diocese investigated the man's complaint the bishop was quite happy and the man got no money from the church.
Asked by the investigating officer how making the allegations might benefit the man, the priest claimed he could benefit to the extent of destroying his (Father Kilpatrick's) work, and if the case was successful, he would gain financially.
The priest, who said he could not recall the man as an altar boy, told the detective he was "stunned" and "had been left in a complete daze by the allegations".
Questioned about allegations by the other altar boy, Father Kilpatrick said he only vaguely remembered him. He said he was absolutely mystified and distressed by the claims.
The priest had added: "It is the case of making allegations against the clergy. The climate is stacked against us."