{"id":329198,"date":"2026-03-04T22:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T22:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/329198\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T22:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T22:56:09","slug":"former-christian-brother-jailed-for-sexually-assaulting-two-boys-more-than-40-years-ago-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/329198\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Christian Brother jailed for sexually assaulting two boys more than 40 years ago \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Christian Brother<\/a> teacher and school principal, who sexually assaulted two boys more than 40 years ago, has been jailed for 5\u00bd years.<\/p>\n

Liam McGrath who was known previously as Brother Kilian can be named for the first time after a judge lifted reporting restrictions at his sentencing hearing at Limerick<\/a> Circuit Criminal Court.<\/p>\n

McGrath, (75), originally from Dublin<\/a>, but with an address at Marketpoint, The Deck, Mullingar, Co Westmeath<\/a>, was described in court by one of the survivors of his abuse as \u201cevil\u201d.<\/p>\n

Judge Colin Daly lifted a ban on the media naming McGrath after the two survivors in the case previously said they wished he be identified.<\/p>\n

The two survivors, now adult men, were in court to face McGrath at his sentencing hearing. In their victim impact statements they said the sex assaults were McGrath\u2019s \u201cshame\u201d and not theirs.<\/p>\n

McGrath had pleaded not guilty at his trial to 11 counts of indecent assault on the two boys separately, on different dates in the 1980, in Limerick and in other parts of the country. He was found guilty on seven counts and acquitted on the remaining four counts.<\/p>\n

The two survivors, now in their 50s, told the court how McGrath\u2019s sexual assaults on them had destroyed their childhood and haunted them into their adulthood.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day, memories, that I don\u2019t want, infiltrate my psyche and have stolen my sense of safety, trust and peace, and, like a shadow they have followed me through school, relationships, work, and moments I should have enjoyed,\u201d one of the men said.<\/p>\n

This man said McGrath was a \u201cpersevering predatory paedophile\u201d whose abuse made him suffer \u201canxiety, self loathing, and a relenting sense of worthlessness\u201d.<\/p>\n

Turning to McGrath, the man said: \u201cYou stole my childhood, my innocence, my ability to like myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGrath showed no emotion throughout his trial and at his sentence hearing.<\/p>\n

Asking the court to impose an immediate custodial sentence, the man said: \u201cThere was no leniency availed to me by the perpetrator, thus I believe leniency should not be afforded to the perpetrator who preyed upon a child\u201d.<\/p>\n

The second survivor told McGrath: \u201cI was an innocent 13-year-old boy, you manipulated access to me by befriending my parents, and you used your position to get their trust, and you then used me for your sexual gratification.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou changed me from a happy, talkative child, to someone more introverted who had to deal with shame and guilt, huge fear; and the effects of it have followed me my entire adult life,\u201d the man said.<\/p>\n

The two survivors said their personal relationships with their loved ones and friends had suffered due to the abuse they endured at McGrath\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

McGrath left the Christian Brothers after the abuse and got married and had two children.<\/p>\n

Daly said McGrath, who had no prior convictions, \u201cbefriended\u201d the families of the two boys before going on to sexually assault them separately.<\/p>\n

The sex assaults took place at various locations around Ireland when McGrath was in his 30s and the boys were aged between 12 and 14.<\/p>\n

The two survivors each individually made complaints to garda\u00ed in 2020 and 2022, and the cases were prosecuted together in one trial.<\/p>\n

Prosecuting barrister Lily Buckley, instructed by State solicitor Brendan Gill said McGrath had been \u201cimplicitly trusted\u201d by the boys\u2019 families after he befriended them.<\/p>\n

Daly said McGrath was \u201csinister\u201d in \u201cengineering\u201d occasions where he could be alone with the boys on different dates in the 1980s.<\/p>\n

The judge commended both survivors for their \u201cdignified\u201d victim impact statements and said McGrath was also guilty of breaching their trust.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former Christian Brother teacher and school principal, who sexually assaulted two boys more than 40 years ago,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45,14234,615,61,60,1396,43,59],"class_list":["post-329198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-an-garda-siochana","tag-christian-brothers","tag-dublin","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-limerick","tag-news","tag-westmeath"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}