Priest found guilty of eight counts of historical abuse

A priest has been found guilty of eight counts of historical indecent assault against four boys.

Canon Patrick McEntee, 71, from Esker Road in Dromore, County Tyrone faced a total of nine counts of indecent assault dating back to the late 1970s and involving boys aged between 11 and 17.

McEntee, who was a teacher at St Michael’s College in Enniskillen, had denied all the charges.

The priest took the boys into his private quarters where some of the boys were made to sit on his knee or touched inappropriately.

Canon McEntee was convicted on four counts of indecent assault on one boy between 1988 and 1989.

He was also convicted on a single count of indecently assaulting a second male between 1980 and 1981.

He was convicted on a further three charges of indecent assault involving two boys between 1978 and 1987. He was acquitted on one charge of indecent assault against another boy.

The prosecution told the court that during the late 1970s into the 1980s Canon McEntee abused young boys who were pupils at St Michael’s.

The jury was told it would have to decide if the priest’s action “was pastoral care or sexual deviance”.

During a police interview, Canon McEntee denied ever having touched boys in the way described saying the allegation was “outrageous”.

During his second police interview Canon McEntee provided a written statement saying he “categorically denied the allegations” and then refused to answer police questions.

During the trial at Dungannon Court, the jury heard from the five men who accused Canon McEntee of inappropriate behaviour.

One told how he was abused “weekly” by the priest.

Another outlined how he’d been made to sit on the priests’ knee as he sang the “horsey horsey” nursery rhyme and was touched on his bottom.

A third complaint outlined how Canon McEntee had brought a young boy into his personal quarters after he had been “messing about” in class, and how the priest took his trousers down and assaulted him.

The prosecution said that the accounts from the five witnesses were “chillingly similar”.

The prosecution put it to the jury “why has lightning struck not once but five times”.

Canon McEntee told the trial that he was “bewildered” by the allegations.

The trial heard that Canon McEntee was a man of “good character” with no prior convictions.

His defence team pointed out inconsistencies in some of the accusations, using pictures to dispute recollections of the priests’ private quarters, what the floor covering was and where windows were located.

The defence also questioned why some of the accusations were only made after newspaper reports about allegations against Canon McEntee had been published.

During the trial, two past pupils told the court that Canon McEntee was an “complete gentleman” who “embodied Christian values” and was well-respected among the pupils and teachers at St. Michaels.

Originally from County Monaghan, Canon McEntee taught religious studies at St Michael’s and was college president from 1994 until 2000.

He has been a priest for more than 45 years and has been the parish priest of St Davog’s in Dromore since 2001.

In March 2023, the Diocese of Clogher announced he had been granted a leave of absence while an alleged safeguarding issue was investigated.

Canon McEntee was remanded into custody ahead of sentencing in September.

Judge Richard Greene told McEntee that he would face “a significant custodial sentence”.