Paedophile Michael Ferry, who is serving 14 years for sex offences against schoolboys, won’t go jail for any longer after admitting a further 15 sex crimes today.
The 58-year-old was sentenced to a further seven years to run concurrent.
That means he won’t spend a day beyond late 2021 which is what his defence counsel Desmond Murphy,SC, said would be his due date for release for the original convictions.
The extra charges were committed against one boy when he was between 13 and 17 and who now describes himself as being gay.
His victim impact statement at today’s sentencing in Donegal Circuit Court said he wondered if he would be gay if he hadn’t met Ferry, adding that people have sniggered at him because of his sexuality.
It’s the first time Ferry, from Carrickboyle, Gweedore, has been named for the extra 15 counts of indecent assault against the same person between 1984 and 1987.
Judge John O’Hagan noted that at the time of the offences Ferry was 15 years older than his victim.
The court heard that Ferry stopped studying for the priesthood in 1979 and worked as a PE and religious teacher and was caretaker in schools in Gweedore.
He was sentenced in 2011 to 18 years, with four suspended, for raping and assaulting four boys aged between 10 and 17 at Ard Scoil Mhuire, Derrybeg between 1990 and 2005.
- Sun, 8 Sep 2024
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