Eoghan Dalton
A former priest has been sentenced to prison for 22 months at Waterford Circuit Court for possessing child pornography.
Oliver O’Grady (75) had been found guilty by a jury a fortnight ago, having been charged with one count of possessing a video of an underage girl engaging in a sexual act.
The court heard that he had the video on a date between December 14th 2015 and March 2016, at his residence at St Otteran’s Place, South Parade, Waterford city. The case arose when a former housemate of O’Grady reported him to Gardaí after discovering a sexually explicit video on the computer. The offence - which he denied - carries a maximum sentence of five years.
Video
On Tuesday afternoon the defendant addressed the court for the first time having previously provided a written statement for the trial.
O'Grady said he had no knowledge of the video's existence until investigating Gardaí brought it to his attention, and confirmed he accepted the guilty verdict delivered by the jury. However, he said the video of the child was "far worse" than what the court put forward, as it meant "that the girl had lost her right to be human".
As part of the address, which Judge Eugene O'Kelly later described as "bizarre", O'Grady thanked the prosecution and the Garda for their work, his own counsel and the staff at the courthouse and those transporting him from the Midlands prison.
Past sentences
Judge Eugene O’Kelly heard O’Grady has eight previous convictions, including the repeated molestation of two brothers in California over a 10-year period, for which he served seven years in the 1990s. He was later deported back to Ireland. These crimes were the subject of an Academy Award nominated documentary in 2006 titled 'Deliver Us From Evil'.
Detective Garda Brian Morris outlined how on January 30th, 2012 O'Grady was convicted of three counts of possession of child pornography, after a laptop he owned was left behind on an Aer Lingus flight. Some 280,000 images showing children in sexual poses and 1,000 video files of child pornography were discovered on the device.
He also received nine months imprisonment from Cloverhill District Court earlier this year for a failure to notify the court of a change in details, which related to his being placed on the sex offenders register.
As part of its case for leniency, the defence pointed out O’Grady previously received just three years in 2012, for possessing approximately over a quarter million images and 1,000 videos of child pornography.
Childhood
Sean D. Rafter BL said the former priest suffered “two primary shocks” when growing up in Limerick. The first was the death of his father from a heart attack at age 7 which left him and his five siblings in difficulty.
The defence added that O’Grady was himself a victim of abuse between the ages of 12 and 14 when he served at his local church. “Unfortunately the cycle perpetuates itself,” Mr Rafter said.
There was “no intervention, no assistance and no accountability” from the Catholic church when Mr O'Grady began to abuse children, he added. “That is the context of this man’s life.”
Higher level
But State prosecutor Conor O'Doherty BL cited that the video at the centre of the case was at the higher level of child pornography, and the Judge said it amounted to the "exploitation and abuse of a child for the sexual gratification of others".
There was "no willingness" from O'Grady to deal with his problems, despite already serving two prison terms, according to O'Kelly.
He handed down a 22 month sentence, backdated to when O'Grady was first arrested and placed in custody on 26 October 2019.
He will also be subject to post-release supervision by the probation and welfare service for two and a half years.
