What is believed to be one of the largest individual settlements in the history of the US clerical sexual abuse scandal involved a priest who recently absconded to Ireland in the middle of court proceedings there.
The settlement of $3.75 million (€2.83 million) between the Californian diocese of Stockton and a man now in his 30s was announced on Friday and involved Fr Michael Kelly (62), a native of Tipperary.
Fr Kelly was removed from ministry in the US on April 6th after a jury found unanimously against him in this case alleging sexual abuse in the 1980s.
A second phase of the trial got under way almost two weeks ago. Fr Kelly denied the allegations and left while proceedings were under way.
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/a812fdea-a152-4458-82e7-f74d152302fe.png)