Former principal of St Colman’s Abbey PS found guilty of sex abuse

Paul Dunleavy, with an address at Glen Road in Belfast, was found guilty of offences including indecent assault and gross indecency with or towards a child.

The offences are alleged to have been committed on dates between 1964 and 1991 while the 88-year-old former Christian Brother worked at four schools in Belfast, Newry and Armagh.

The jury of six men and six women had been directed by Judge Patrick Lynch KC to find Dunleavy not guilty on one count of indecent assault. They returned unanimous verdicts on the 31 counts of indecent assault, one of attempted buggery and two counts of gross indecency.

Judge Lynch then said that he would accept a majority verdict on the remaining two counts, and following this the jury found Dunleavy guilty of the two remaining charges by an 11-1 majority.

The jury had already been told that Dunleavy had been convicted on two separate occasions of a series of sexual offences against children in his care at a number of schools where he taught.

Dunleavy was remanded into custody and will be sentenced next month following the completion of a medical report.