THE TRIAL HAS begun at the Circuit Criminal Court in Cork of a retired priest charged with the indecent assault of a teenager around 30 years ago.
Fr Dan Duane, who retired in 2005 after ministering in North Cork for almost 40 years, is charged with assaulting a woman when she was aged 15 or 16, who claims she was indecently assaulted when she visited him to discuss a family problem, RTÉ News reports.
The woman told the court that she had become upset when telling him about her problems, and had begun to cry. When she did so, Duane ellegedly leaned towards her and kissed her on the lips before fondling her.
The incident lasted for around a minute, she estimated, and left her so shocked that she only mentioned the incident to a friend several months later. Thereafter she did not mention the incident for years afterward.
Duane denied the assault in a Garda interview and again in court today. The trial continues.
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