"I trusted, respected and looked up to him," a former altar boy, one of the alleged victims of sexual abuse by a priest, told an Armagh Crown Court jury yesterday.
He was giving evidence on the third day of the trial of Father Edward Kilpatrick (53), parish priest of Murlough, Co Donegal.
The cleric, a former secretary to the now retired bishop of Derry, Dr Edward Daly, has pleaded not guilty to 19 charges of gross indecency and indecent assault of two young boys.
The allegations concern a period between 1975 and 1981 when the priest was a curate at Steelstown parish in Derry.
The witness, now aged 30 and a civil servant in Belfast, cannot be named for legal reasons.
In evidence, he told the jury that he had been brought up a devout Catholic and still was. He had volunteered his name for altar boy duties when he was about nine and had been selected.
He spoke of an alleged incident in the sacristy of Our Lady's Church following an evening Mass in spring or summer, but was unsure as to the actual date. He said he was called into the priest's room after Mass. Father Kilpatrick was there with the sacristan, a woman, whom he believed was called Noeleen.
After the woman left, he said, the priest invited him to sit on his knee, which he did. Father Kilpatrick started to talk to him but he could not recollect the conversation. "He then put his arm around me and his hand down the front of my trousers and pants. He started to fondle my private parts," the man claimed.
He alleged the priest inquired if this hurt and he replied "No". Asked by senior prosecutor Mr Terry Mooney QC why he had given this answer, the witness replied: "Because I trusted," respected and looked up to him."
The man claimed the assault lasted for a few minutes. He alleged the priest told him not to tell anyone as it was "our secret".
Questioned by Mr Mooney about how he felt leaving the church, the witness replied: "I didn't think anything bad or wrong had happened." He went on to tell the court of a similar alleged assault after which he was again warned to tell no one.
The young man, who described the experiences as "painful", alleged other assaults of a similar nature occurred in the church vestry on three or four occasions over a period of time.
On Monday the alleged victim will continue giving evidence and be cross examined by senior defence counsel, Mr Eugene Grant QC.