A former altar boy pleaded guilty in the Central Criminal Court yesterday to 12 charges of raping and sexually abusing a younger altar boy in Dublin over five years. Pending sentence he has been allowed out on bail, a condition of which is he must make no contact with the victim.
The defendant, now in his early 20s, originally faced a total of 84 charges relating to rape, buggery, gross indecency, sexual assault and indecent assault. The victim was aged from eight to 13 at the time.
Mr Desmond Zaidan, prosecuting, asked the court registrar to arraign the man on 12 counts when he appeared in court.
The defendant pleaded guilty to three charges of rape, three of buggery, three counts of committing acts of gross indecency, two of sexual assault and one of indecent assault on unknown dates from January 1990 to September 30th, 1995.
He was remanded on continuing bail for sentence by Mr Justice Carney on May 6th next. He cannot be named for legal reasons. Evidence of the offences will be heard at the sentence hearing.
Mr Barry White SC, defending, said garda∅ had no objection to the defendant remaining on bail pending the sentence hearing, provided there was no contact between the two families concerned. There had been animosity between the families.