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Fr Malachy Finnegan: Abuse survivor appeals to victims to come forward

PACMAKER Fr Malachy FinneganPACMAKER
Fr Malachy Finnegan was accused of a long campaign of child sexual abuse but was never questioned by police

A man who survived abuse by a paedophile priest in County Down has said other victims can help to uncover the truth.

Tony Gribben has appealed to victims of Fr Malachy Finnegan to come forward.

Earlier this week, a court was told that Mr Gribben, 61, is to receive a six-figure sum in damages.

It comes after Mr Gribben sued the trustees and board of governors at St Colman's College in Newry and the Diocese of Dromore.

He took the lawsuit over the sexual and physical assaults perpetrated upon him by the now deceased Fr Finnegan, who was a teacher at the school.

Mr Gribben, who now lives in Italy, told BBC News NI: "My mission moving forward, it's less about Tony Gribben and it's more about all of the others out there who still haven't come forward and I think that's part of my next vocation as I move towards my retirement years."

He added: "It's really to reach out to all of those other youngsters at the time at St Colman's College or in fact at other schools in the diocese."

Tony Gribben
Tony Gribben was awarded a six-figure sum after he sued the trustees and board of governors at St Colman's College

He made a direct appeal to survivors who have not spoken about their ordeal.

"It's extremely important that you come forward, not only for you in terms of your overall recovery and your healing but critically also, you coming forward will bring in extra intelligence, extra information so that the lawyers supporting us can start to join up the dots and really fill in the holes in the jigsaw."

Never prosecuted or questioned

Finnegan taught and worked at St Colman's College from 1967 to 1987, spending the last decade as the school's president.

He went on to serve as a parish priest in Clonduff, County Down.

The priest, who died in 2002, was accused of a long campaign of child sexual abuse, but was never prosecuted or questioned by police about claims made against him.

St Colman's College in Newry
Finnegan taught at St Colman's College in Newry and was later its president

In 2018, it emerged that the Diocese of Dromore had settled a claim made by one of his victims.

At that stage, the board of governors at St Colman's condemned the physical, sexual and emotional abuse inflicted by Finnegan while working there.

The priest's image was also removed from the school's photographs.

At the time, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) set up a team of detectives to investigate Finnegan's activities.

Nine people were said to have been interviewed under caution, but no direction was made to prosecute anyone.