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Priest on trial accused of abusing boys in school

Elaine Mitchell
BBC News NI south west reporter
Pacemaker Canon Patrick McEntee pictured near Dungannon Courthouse. He has a thin layer of receding white hair and is wearing glasses with a gold and black frame. He is also wearing a navy suit jacket over an open-neck blue shirt. Pacemaker
Canon Patrick McEntee attended the first day of his trial at Dungannon Courthouse

A County Tyrone priest has gone on trial on historical indecent assault charges against five young men.

Canon Patrick McEntee, 70, from Esker Road, Dromore, faces a total of nine counts of indecent assault dating back to the late 1970s.

Canon McEntee, who was a teacher at St Michael's College in Enniskillen, has denied all the charges.

The prosecution told Dungannon Crown Court that during the late 1970s and into the 1980s, Canon McEntee abused young boys who were pupils at the school.

It was alleged that the priest took the boys, who were aged between 11 and 17, into his private quarters where some of the boys were made to sit on his knee or touched inappropriately.

The jury was told that it would have to decide if the priest's action "was pastoral care or sexual deviance".

He is charged with four counts of indecent assault on one male between 1988 and 1989.

There is also a single count of indecently assaulting a second male between 1980 and 1981.

There are a further four counts of indecent assault against three males that allegedly occurred between 1978 and 1987.

Accused 'categorically denied the allegations'

The court heard that 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.

The court heard that some of the witness testimony would come in the form of video evidence.

Originally from County Monaghan, Canon McEntee taught religious studies at St Michael's and was the 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 is on continuing bail of £500 and banned from any contact with the complainants and any person aged under 16.