Man to receive £115k in damages in priest sex abuse case

A man who claimed he was sexually abused by a priest while attending a school in Newry in the 1980s is to receive £115,000 in damages.

The High Court case alleged he was attacked by the late Fr Malachy Finegan, who was a former headmaster at St Colman's College.

The priest, who died in 2002, was accused of a long campaign of child sex abuse but was never prosecuted or questioned by police about claims made against him.

The plaintiff, who is not being named, sued the Diocese of Dromore along with the trustees and board of governors of the school.

The plaintiff was also awarded legal costs as part of the settlement.

No admission of liability was made by the defendants.

It is the latest in a series of settlements reached by people who reported being sexually abused by Finegan while he worked as a teacher in Newry.

He was also accused of abusing young boys during his tenure as a Clonduff parish priest in Hilltown, County Down.

The first settlement was reported in 2018, at which stage the school's board of governors condemned the abuse inflicted by Finegan while he worked there.

They also removed the priest's image from the school's photographs at that time.

In this case, the man's lawyers claimed Finegan groomed and isolated their client from other children in St Colman's before subjecting him to severe sex assaults.

Following the settlement, the man's solicitor, Owen Winters of KRW Law, said he can now continue his "healing process".

"Sadly for many victims and survivors of historical sexual abuse generally, closure remains as elusive as ever," he continued.

"The memories of abuse perpetrated upon them never ever fade away."

Mr Winters added: "More specifically for many, the horrendous legacy left by Finegan looms as large as it did all those years ago when he was abusing children on a weekly basis.

"A damages cheque, welcome as it is, will never erase that legacy."