A COURT IN South Bend, Indiana, has given Fr Francis Markey (81) until November 16th to find a lawyer and prepare for his extradition hearing.
The priest, from the Catholic diocese of Clogher, is wanted in Ireland on charges of twice raping a 15-year-old boy in 1968.
Fr Markey was on the front porch of his home when US marshals arrested him at about 5pm on Monday, the South Bend Tribune reported. He is being held in the St Joseph county jail. The Irish Government has requested that he not be released on bail.
“I’m at a loss,” Fr Markey murmured in the district court on Tuesday when Judge Christopher Nuechterlein asked if he had any questions. Kevin Allen, the South Bend Tribune’s reporter in the courtroom, described the priest as “a slight, bespectacled man with a head of thinning white hair” who “entered the courtroom slowly and gingerly with the help of a cane”.
He wore a blue jail uniform, “spoke softly with an Irish accent” and said he was in poor health, having suffered a stroke, fallen and hit his head recently.
Fr Markey’s alleged victim made the accusations against him in 2006, nearly 38 years after he said the rapes took place. The priest’s accuser said he was 15 years old when Fr Markey, who was considered a family friend, allegedly raped him once in Lough Derg and once in Co Galway, after his father’s funeral.
The DPP issued two warrants for Fr Markey’s arrest in April and May 2008. Representatives of the diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend and the University of Notre Dame said the priest was not affiliated with them.
In a statement yesterday the Catholic Bishop of Clogher, Dr Joseph Duffy, said: “A retired priest of the diocese of Clogher has been arrested in the United States on the basis of an extradition warrant in connection with allegations of child sexual abuse more than 40 years ago.
“These allegations were made directly to An Garda Síochána. The priest concerned has not held a position of ministry in the diocese of Clogher since 1976. He has been living in the United States since 1982.”