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Irish priest behind clerical abuse settlement extradited from Brazil

Priest accused of 55 child sex crimes now in hands of Irish authorities

By
ANTOINETTE KELLY,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Saturday, December 31, 2011, 10:09 AM
Updated Saturday, December 31, 2011, 10:09 AM

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Fr. Peter Kennedy, a fugitive Catholic priest accused of 55 child sex crimes, has been deported from Brazil after eight years on the run.
Fr. Peter Kennedy, a fugitive Catholic priest accused of 55 child sex crimes, has been deported from Brazil after eight years on the run.
Photo by Google Images


Father Peter Kennedy, 72, a fugitive Catholic priest accused of 55 child sex crimes, has been deported from Brazil after eight years on the run.

Kennedy first hit the headlines in 2003 when one of his former victims was awarded over $420,000 - to date the largest ever pay-out in an Irish clerical sex abuse case.

Kennedy's accuser claimed the priest had raped him when he was 13 after coming to his family's County Sligo home to perform the last rites for his father, who was dying of cancer at the time.

Kennedy disappeared when up to 18 other individuals came forward, accusing him of sexual abuse stretching back to the 1980's.

Police believe the cleric fled to Brazil to evade arrest and in 2004 Interpol formally requested his capture and deportation.
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Kennedy used a British passport to travel from London to Brazil, where he settled on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, making a living by teaching English.

It's understood that Brazilian federal police had been following Kennedy's movements for four months, but they didn't make an arrest until his deportation documents had been finalized.

Brazilian Federal officers finally arrested the priest on Monday before taking him immediately to Sao Paulo International Airport. Later that evening he was taken to a plane bound for London, where Irish authorities waited for him.

Kennedy was suspended from his ministry in 1986 after multiple abuse claims emerged. He moved to London then and worked as a taxi driver until he made his escape to Brazil.

A brother of the victim who received the record pay-out told the press that his mother had caught the priest molesting her son in her own home.

"My mother heard some roaring from my younger brother's room," the man, known as Joe, told the Daily Mail. "She found him on the floor with his pants down. Kennedy was standing over him adjusting his trousers."

"The priest had told him he had power over life and death and the abuse was to have been their secret. My mother ran him from the house and told him never to come back."

The man added that his brother had become an alcoholic at 18 and he had also self-harmed and tried to commit suicide.

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22 Comments

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proudirishlass | Jan 03, 2012, 08:46 AM EST
LYNNOFARRELL I admire your courage to speak out, and your spiritual strength to forgive. Try to channel your anger in a positive way. Maybe, set up a support group for young victims of abuse or maybe just give talks on this subject to the young and vulnerable. Don't let this hate though justified eat you up.

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lynnofarrell | Jan 02, 2012, 09:32 PM EST
Some got right there is no money that can give a personback what was taken from them. Matthew 18: 6 If anyone causes a child to sin (or turn form me) it would be better him to have a millstone fasten round his neck and cast into the fires of hell. Now this has happen to me and money only filled a hole that I was robbed of. I can see these people going to burn. I can see the damage that they have done to me and a cord keeps me sttached to them bny my hate and want fo revenge. With that They can go.... as for me I forgive because I do not want to be dragged into hell with them. The very act that was done to me has caused me to live in hell right here on earth. The only way I could be free of that hate, hurt, and pain was to forgive

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helmet365 | Jan 02, 2012, 08:52 PM EST
Follow the sheep and you become enslaved.

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merefalow | Jan 02, 2012, 05:05 PM EST
hybernia ,pretty good description.i cant understand why these people are not driven out of the church,time after time month after month ,year after year,century after century.why they are not condemned,you have to believe this institution is fundementaly institutionally corrupt.

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RockNReel | Jan 02, 2012, 02:24 PM EST
Lots of Saints and Scholars and Sunday Morning Christians on the Emerald isle still in denial unfortunately. Thats the very reason that the perverted pedophiles were able to get away for so long!! There was far too much respect shown to priests and they took full advantage of it. This is the result !!

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CaptainCon | Jan 02, 2012, 10:02 AM EST
This guy was on an Interpol fugitive list on 55 offences across 18 victims. Must be some kinda mistake, eh? The ethical catholics are out again trying to spin absolute BS, the ethical deserts that they are. Wretched people attempting to prop up their own psychological delusions with every last straw.

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CaptainCon | Jan 02, 2012, 10:00 AM EST
Oh yeah- the innocent usually do disappear to Brazil don't they? And as Tobin well knows and every other wretched little deflector knows the catholic church will pay out a lot of parishioners money to ensure that the behaviour of their degenerates and the coverups by their Bishops are never read as evidence before a court. Down to the last grotty attempt at a deflection now.

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JOHNTOBIN | Jan 02, 2012, 06:25 AM EST
Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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CaptainCon | Jan 02, 2012, 04:37 AM EST
Don't worry about people like 'rugnyplayer'- they started out by denying there was ever a problem in the catholic church with child abuse. Then they moved on to say it was a reflection of Irish society shortly before demanding that everyone believe that the priesthood was infiltrated by homosexuals just before deciding officially it was all the fault of the 1960s. I'm only surprised they didn't try blaming it all on aliens. It adds up to self-protective denial because they see criticism of priest cover-ups and the official church evasions as an attack on their own psychology- a psychology that cannot handle the truth about the degenerate church they believe in. One is looking at a form of mental illness. I know one elderly catholic devotee who blames the head of Amnesty Ireland- at least every time the abuse issue is mentioned she pipes up 'that Colm O'Gorman'... she has convinced herself the disgrace the church finds itself in worldwide is down to one man. That is mental illness.

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warlocks | Jan 02, 2012, 01:27 AM EST
Its time to Abolish the Roman Catholic Church in not only in Irelnd but in Every Country on Earth. I call on all Native Irish Brothers to Drive out the Roman Pagan Catholic Church from Ireland. the Vatican is nothing but a Money making Corrupt Church of Satan. Run by satan himself. i say Through out the Roman Catholic Church and bring back the Origional Celtic Church of Ireland

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SingleDonald | Jan 01, 2012, 10:02 PM EST
Jesus got it wrong! Matthew, 5:28 should read, "Adults who look at a child with lust have committed a moral transgression"! Anyone who takes looking at a woman with lust as sinful is a pathetic & easily lead individual.

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macalister | Jan 01, 2012, 09:36 PM EST
Is there no end to the evil of the catholic priests? World wide evil,and there's still people who admire them and heed every word they say,and fill their coffers, when they can barely afford to keep body and soul together.Why ??

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helmet365 | Jan 01, 2012, 05:27 PM EST
rugbyplayer,don't down play it, the victims have been through a lot. It takes courage to come out,iterrogation, shame and fear of not being believed. Take a look (google) this. 'Two catholic clerics resposible for 26 suicides' Police say.(Melbourne press, Victoria, Australia.) Families,and many more lives ruined by these men. In the past most victims did not tell for fear of not being believed and the perpetrators got away with it,we don't want to get back to this.

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SteveMD2 | Jan 01, 2012, 05:25 PM EST
EVen on new years day I feel once again to be compelled to comment. Will it ever end??????????????........... I can only wish this monster a long life in prison, with "pedophile" tattooed on his backside............I've read that most prisoners in one way or another - physically , emotionally, or sexually were abused...............It is they who can give him the punishment he deserves.............And for anyone who comes to make excuses for the churhc - these stories of horror are all over the world, in virtually every country that the Catholic church operates.................Even Iceland where there are only 3 (or 5) (catholic churches ) and the largest in Reykjavik holds about 300 and was half empty when I was there last August.........And to distract the people from the church's crimes, the bishops do what you may have seen, re chicago - where Cardinal George called the gay pride parade a KKK (hate grouP) rally............the rally of our gay and lesbians asking to be treated equally outside his church, but in our society, as well as exercising their free speech rights..........ONward our Irish friends, pls give your support to equality for our gay and lesbian friends and neighbors. Including CIVIL (not religious) marriage.

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proudirishlass | Jan 01, 2012, 05:00 PM EST
In response to RUGBYPLAYER, i am sure that there are a few accusers lured by the easy money, but the church is not known for handing out money to just about anyone. They like to get money not give it. I believe that most if not all of the church pedophiles were well known in the church so the accusations were not surprising to anyone. Trust me not a penny would have left the basket if they felt wronged.

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