A FORMER lord mayor of Cork was yesterday beginning a 12-month prison sentence for sexually assaulting a teenage girl. John Murray (83), an ex-Labour councillor, had been found guilty of five counts of sexually assaulting the girl during the 1990s. His victim, who is now in her thirties, had told the Cork Circuit Criminal Court that she had been "intimidated" by the prominent politician and that the abuse had "tainted" her. Before passing sentence, Judge Sean O'Donnaghain said he had found little evidence of remorse from Murray, who had denied all charges. However, because of Murray's age and health the judge imposed a four-year sentence suspending the final three. He also ordered that the convicted abuser be placed on the Republic's sex offenders register. Last week an elderly Catholic priest apologised to a Cork family after it emerged he had prayed during funeral Mass that Murray would be found not guilty by the jury at his four-day trial. Fr Martin Crean (72), an Augustinian friar who spent much of his life as a missionary in Nigeria but is now based in Co Tipperary, was officiating at the funeral of a Togher friend John 'Seanie' Cotter when he prayed for Murray, whom he had also come to know while living in Cork several years ago. He later contacted the Cotter family to apologise. The Bishop of Cork and Ross Dr John Buckley criticised the Limerick-born priest's comments as "offensive and inappropriate''.
