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Richard Brennan. irishphotodesk.ie

Former priest who sexually assaulted his three sisters jailed for eight years

Richard Brennan pleaded guilty to 24 counts against his three sisters, including 18 of indecent assault and six charges of rape.

A MAN WHO told his sisters they would be doing him a favour to have sex with him as he was going to become a priest and had sexual urges has been jailed for eight years.

Richard Brennan (64) previously of Rathfarnham, now living in the United States, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 24 counts against his three sisters, including 18 of indecent assault and six charges of rape.

He entered the guilty pleas after each of the three women had given evidence before a jury and before the final woman was about to be cross-examined.

He pleaded guilty to four sample charges of indecent assault and four rape charges against Paula Faye on dates between January 1978 and December 1981, when she was aged between 13 and 17 years old.

Brennan also pleaded guilty to 13 sample incidences of indecent assault and two charges of rape against a second sister, Catherine Wrightstone, on dates between June 1980 and December 1984 while she was aged between nine and 14 years old.

He finally pleaded guilty to indecent against the oldest of the sisters, Yvonne Crist, when she was about 20 years old on dates between June 1979 and June 1980.

Brennan was between 17 and 24 years old at time of the offending.

Brennan has no previous convictions. He was ordained as a priest in 1989 and moved to the US, but later married and had a family. He returned from the US for questioning and the trial.

Earlier this month, another brother, Bernard Brennan (67), formerly of Rathfarnham, Dublin, but most recently residing in the United States, was jailed for four-and-a-half years after he admitted to sexual abuse of both Yvonne Crist and Paula Faye.

Bernard Brennan pleaded guilty to 11 counts of indecent assault in various locations within the State between 1972 and 1975. He has no previous convictions.

Sentencing Richard Brennan today, Mr Justice David Keane said it was heartening to hear the three women in victim impact statement describe themselves as survivors.

The judge said the sisters had made the “truly courageous” decision to report their brother’s crimes to the gardaí.

Mr Justice Keane said he had the most “immense admiration” for the determination shown by the three women in bringing the case before the courts and hoped that they would get something from their brother’s “belated acceptances of guilt”. He wished them well for the future.

Mr Justice Keane said the aggravating features of the case included the particularly young ages of both Ms Faye and Ms Wrightstone at the time of the abuse against them and the fact that the abuse occurred in a place where the sisters should have felt secure.

Instead, Brennan created an environment of fear and confusion, he said.

The judge also took into account the fact that there was a pattern of frequent assaults against the younger two sisters over a lengthy period of time and that Brennan was a seminarian at the time, with particular familial responsibilities to his younger sisters.

Finally, Mr Justice Keane said there were three separate victims in the case who each have been psychologically damaged and that Brennan caused each of them significant harm.

He set headline sentences of 12 years for the rapes committed against Ms Wrightstone, and headline sentences of 10 years for the rapes committed against Ms Faye.

He set headline sentences of six years against the indecent assaults against Ms Wrightstone and headline sentences of 21 months and 18 months for the indecent assaults against Ms Faye and Ms Crist.

Mr Justice Keane said he must take into consideration mitigation, including what he said was a late plea entered on the ninth day of the trial. He acknowledged that Brennan has shown deep remorse and that he has apologised to each of his victims.

He said Brennan was also entitled to significant credit for his lack of previous convictions and the fact that he co-operated with gardaí.

Mr Justice Keane said he accepted evidence that Brennan appears to have been present during some incidences of abuse carried out by his brother Bernard Brennan on both Ms Faye and Ms Crist.

He said he was also taking into account the character evidence given during the sentence hearing by Brennan’s wife and testimonials handed into court by a number of other people.

Mr Justice Keane imposed a term of nine years for the rape offences carried out by Brennan against Ms Wrightstone.

He imposed concurrent terms of seven and half years for the rape offences committed against Ms Faye and four and half years for the indecent assaults against Ms Wrightstone.

He imposed further concurrent terms of 16 months and 14 months for the indecent assault offences committed against Ms Faye and Ms Crist. A global sentence of nine years was backdated to March 18 last when Brennan first went into custody.

Mr Justice Keane noted that a report from the Probation Service indicated that Brennan is willing to engage with offence focused work as deemed suitable by them and said he must “consider the prospect of rehabilitation” upon his ultimate release from prison.

He suspended the final 12 months of the nine-year term on condition that Brennan engage with the Probation Service for a year upon his release. He did not impose a post release supervision order after acknowledging that Brennan intends to return to the States when he leaves Ireland.

‘Just relax’

Detective Sergeant Kevin Drennan told Fiona Murphy SC, prosecuting, that Paula Faye told gardaí that she was 14 or 15 years old when she woke to find Brennan trying to pull up her nightdress. He was shushing her and telling her stay quiet. He said she would be doing him a favour and told her “I know you will enjoy it”.

She said she gave in as she wanted him out of her room and she felt like she had no other option. During the assault on her, he told her to “just relax” and asked her if she “liked it”.

He asked her for sex as he said he was not able to have sex with any girl because he was going to be a priest.

She later told gardaí that she recalled that at the time, Brennan was studying to enter the priesthood and would return to the family home during breaks from college.

Ms Faye said similar incidences occurred regularly describing how Brennan would crawl into her room on his tummy as if he was a snake before getting into bed with her and sexually assaulting her or raping her.

He would tell her that he had “urges and needed her to satisfy those urges”. He would beg her for sex and she said she felt she had no option but to allow it to happen.

Ms Faye said the first incident of rape occurred when she was 16 years old.

She described another incident when she found him peeping through a keyhole when she was in their parents’ bedroom.

He told her we have the room to ourselves and said they would “great fun”. She again said she felt she had no option but to do what Brennan asked and did as he instructed. She said she felt awful and would close her eyes to block out what was happening.

Brennan told her he was sexually frustrated and again referenced the fact that she had done him “such a favour”. She said after the incident in the parents’ bedroom she told him it would not happen again and Brennan assured her that it would not.

However, Ms Faye told gardaí he did approach her in the same manner again.

She said he came into her room, again crawling on the floor like a snake but she demanded that he leave the room.

She later expressed to gardaí that she felt at that time she had “finally found my voice” and that she was “free from it”. This was the summer she sat her Leaving Certificate and it was the final incident because she was “not tolerating it any further”.

Another sister, Yvonne Crist, who watched the sentence hearing via videolink, told gardaí she was 20 years old when she returned to the family home one evening after work and went to sleep in her parents’ bedroom as they were away at the time.

She said she woke to find Brennan tickling her feet and legs. She initially thought it was an intruder in the house but then realised it was her brother.

He said he just wanted to have sex with her and Ms Crist screamed at him that she was calling the police while she grabbed for a nearby phone.

Brennan again said to her “just let me do it” but she persisted and said she was dialling the emergency services. He realised she was serious and left the room.

The final complainant, Catherine Wrightstone, said Brennan abused her from the age of nine to when she was about 12 or 13, progressing to two instances of rape that she could recall.

In the first instance of abuse, he told her he had “something to show her” before he led her to a bedroom in the house and performed oral sex on her, which she found “disgusting” and which caused her to vomit afterwards.

He told her: “This is my job, this is what I’m supposed to do” and made her feel like it was normal behaviour for a big brother. He would also regularly instruct her to stand naked in front of him while he commented on how her body was maturing, the court heard.

The abuse was so regular, Ms Wrightstone said she could not say how often it took place.

“Her memory was that it took place when he was studying to be a priest and that’s why she was so confused,” Ms Murphy said. “In her eyes, he was supposed to be a man of God.”

Victim impact statements

Ms Crist said in her victim impact statement that she regretted not calling the police after the initial incident as her brother would not have been able to go on to further abuse.

She vividly outlined the devastating and ongoing impact the abuse has had on her life. She told the court she was “a survivor” and thanked those who had supported her.

Ms Faye echoed that in her victim impact statement telling the court: “Today I truly am a survivor”. She outlined the adverse effects and continuing consequences of the abuse on her life.

She said as a child she felt invisible, with no voice, no power and no sense of worth. She said her heart aches for that little girl, for all she lost and her innocence stolen far too soon.

Ms Faye said that now as an adult she has processed what happened to her and come to the “profound realisation” that none of it was her fault. She said she is immensely proud of the woman she has become.

She said she and her sisters have faced the shame that was never theirs to carry and their voices were united not only to speak the truth but to reclaim their power.

Ms Wrightstone told the court that she had first broken her silence at the age of 12 years old but was not supported by her family or the system. She said she believed at that time she was the only victim.

She said her brother had thwarted her attempts to come forward by lying to her parents and others. She said he did so not just as a brother but as a professed man of God.

You hid behind the church’s mantle like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

She said she is still seeking justice, not vengeance, and wanted recognition of the harm done and the lasting impact on her life, as well as the immense courage it took to come forward.

Ms Wrightstone said childhood sexual abuse leave deep and lasting harm beyond the acts themselves. She said her brother had stolen her sense of safety, not just in her home, but in her family and body.

“You robbed me of my bodily integrity,” she said, “and instilled fear and shame.”

She condemned his refusal to accept responsibility until the “eleventh hour” and his self serving behaviour throughout the trial. She noted he stated “not guilty” 27 times “with righteous indignation”.

Ms Wrightstone thanked those who had supported her and said justice in the courtroom was a crucial step in healing.

John Byrne SC, defending, told the court that Brennan had co-operated with the garda investigation following a formal complaint from the three complainants in 2019. He presented a prepared statement to gardai denying the allegations.

Richard Brennan told gardaí he had been abused by Bernard Brennan from an early age, although Mr Byrne confirmed this was not part of the case. He said he witnessed Bernard Brennan abusing other siblings and was encouraged to take part in those activities.

The court heard the family response when Ms Wrightstone disclosed the abuse was not to believe her and deal with the matter by way of family therapy sessions. It was not reported to gardaí. 

Brennan’s wife told the court he was the kindest, most compassionate and trustworthy person she had ever met. She said he was truly a minister by every definition of the word and outlined how he had volunteered to work as a chaplain in a hospital during Covid-19.

Byrne said Brennan was now a married man with three children, having left the church after meeting and marrying his wife in 1993.

He said the court had heard during the trial of the chaotic homelife and regular violent outbursts in the family home as the siblings grew up. He said this was fuelled by their mother’s mental health issues and father’s alcohol use. The children were removed from the home for some time.

He asked the court to take into account that Brennan was 24 years old at the time of the latest offending and although his guilty plea came at a late stage, it was valuable acknowledgement of wrongdoing.

He said his client will serve his sentence away from family support and he has a number of health issues.

He said a probation report places Brennan at low risk of reoffending and handed in a letter penned by the accused. He handed in numerous testimonials for the court to consider.

In his letter, Brennan apologises to his sisters and acknowledges the generational harm caused. He said he hoped the guilty plea will assist them in finding healing and hope.

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