Accused Brother fails to turn up

A Christian Brother who is charged with the indecent assault of two young boys at St Joseph's Industrial School, in Galway city…

A Christian Brother who is charged with the indecent assault of two young boys at St Joseph's Industrial School, in Galway city over 30 years ago failed to turn up before Galway District Court again yesterday.

A bench warrant had been issued for the man's arrest at the same court in April but was not to be executed until yesterday if he appeared in court.

The 65-year-old man, who may not be named for legal reasons, has never made an appearance since the case first came before the court in 1997, and he was not legally represented in court yesterday.

He is charged with nine sample counts of indecently assaulting two boys on various dates between January 1st, 1972 and December 31st, 1979, at the Salthill industrial school.

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Previous court hearings had heard from his solicitor, Mr Roger McGinley, that his client's health collapsed after he was charged with the offences. He had undergone an unsuccessful triple by-pass operation and he has congestive heart failure.

Numerous medical reports are already on the court file verifying the accused man's ill-health and his legal team have written to the DPP's office asking for the charges to be withdrawn on medical grounds. In court yesterday, Mr William Kennedy, prosecuting on behalf of the State, asked for a further adjournment as the person dealing with the file in the DPP's office was not available.

Mr Kennedy suggested that the case be adjourned to July and either a bench warrant would be issued then or else the court would have to be satisfied that the accused was not able to attend on medical grounds.

Judge Mary Fahy agreed to adjourn the case to July 7th and indicated it was now up to the DPP to decide whether to go ahead with the prosecution or drop it as it had been dragging on for so long.