PEDOPHILE IRISH PRIEST DIES IN JAIL SHOCKING CASE HELPED TOPPLE A GOVERNMENT
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A Roman Catholic priest whose child-molesting crimes helped topple an Irish
government died in jail Friday, Irish media reported.
Brendan Smyth, 71, was serving a 12-year sentence after pleading guilty to
74 charges of indecent and sexual abuse on boys and girls over a period of
36 years. He was pronounced dead in a hospital in Naas, 20 miles west of
Dublin, after suffering a heart attack in prison, the reports said.

Smyth apologized to his victims before he was sentenced last month, saying
he had committed sins against God as well as offenses against individuals.
The case shook Ireland's Catholic Church, the leadership of which pledged
there would be no hiding place for priests who abused their roles. The
church also set up a special telephone ``help line'' on the day Smyth was
jailed last month for victims of child abuse by the clergy.
His victims are in line for compensation of up to $145,000.
Smyth, a former member of the Norbertine Order, was extradited from
British-ruled Northern Ireland in March after serving four years for
abusing children there.
A 1994 furor about a seven-month Irish delay in processing his extradition
from Northern Ireland damaged the then-government of Prime Minister Albert
Reynolds. His administration later collapsed in a dispute over high-level
legal appointments when its junior coalition ally, the Labor Party, pulled
out of the government.

Copyright © 1997, Denver Publishing Co.

Reuter, PEDOPHILE IRISH PRIEST DIES IN JAIL SHOCKING CASE HELPED TOPPLE A
GOVERNMENT. , Denver Rocky Mountain News, 08-23-1997, pp 54A.
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Copyright © 1999 Infonautics Corporation.