Evil abuse priest who was spared jail refuses to apologise when confronted over victim’s ’34 years of hell’

Pervert Joe Dunne had a four-year sentence suspended because he’s the sole carer of his elderly sister.

A former priest who sexually abused a young woman as he drove her to the Rape Crisis Centre has refused to apologise when confronted by this paper.

Pervert Joe Dunne, 81, indecently assaulted a previously abused young woman on a number of occasions after befriending her in hospital.

But last Friday the depraved beast avoided a four-year jail sentence imposed upon him – because the court heard he was the sole carer for his elderly sister, and the presiding judge ruled it would be unfair on her for him to be imprisoned.

This paper today tracked down Dunne at his bungalow in Ballycrystal, Geashill, Co Offaly – where he refused to engage with us telling us: “I don’t care.”

Holding a bottle of milk after feeding cats in his driveway, Dunne initially greeted this reporter until he realised who we were and uttered: “I don’t care. I don’t want to hear anything.

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“Honest to God I don’t want to hear about papers.

“I don’t want to hear anything. Just straightforward, I don’t want to hear anything.”

Asked if he had any apology he wanted to make to his victim he responded: “No, no, no. I don’t want to hear anything. Now is that clear? So good luck.”

Pressed one more time for comment Dunne shouted: “Look it, if you don’t move I’ll ring the guards.”

We then left the vicinity of his home- which is located just outside the small Offaly town of Geashill, where he has presided for a number of years.

During his case last Friday, the victim outlined how meeting Dunne when she was a young woman in a highly vulnerable situation had started “34 years of hell”.

The court heard how she thought she would be safe in confiding in Dunne because he was a priest.

Dunne pleaded guilty to five counts of indecent assault of the woman which occurred in 1989.

The court heard the case had come to light as a result of a separate investigation in 2019 when gardaí came across letters the injured party had written to her bishop about Dunne years earlier.

Gardaí then approached the woman and she disclosed to them what had occurred.

Mr Justice Paul McDermott commended the courage of the woman in coming forward – and said that the circumstances of the case were extremely aggravating.

The judge said that Dunne had got himself into a position where he could sexually assault an abused woman.

“That’s shocking,” said the judge.

He said it was clear from the nature of the assaults that they were carried out on a young woman in a most vulnerable position and who Dunne knew to be in a vulnerable position after she turned to him for support at a difficult time.

He also said he was obliged to take Dunne’s guilty plea into account but said it appeared from some material presented to court that he does not have full appreciation of the damage done.

He said he also had to take into account the effect imprisoning Dunne would have on his 94-year-old sister for whom Dunne is the sole carer.

He said the report before him in that regard was “stark.”

He said the woman would be in very serious circumstances if deprived of his support and said the court was faced with a dilemma.

The judge said he would therefore take the “unusual and exceptional step”

of suspending the entire sentence because of the disproportionate effect it would have on Dunne’s sister.

But he said that this was not something easily done on his part.

Mr Justice McDermott suspended the entirety of the four-year sentence on strict conditions including that Dunne attend with the Probation Service and undertake offence-focused work.