October 2020 Former priest Oliver O’Grady in court again IN a trial that’s been before Waterford Circuit Court the last four weeks, former priest Oliver O’Grady was found guilty this afternoon (Tuesday, October 13) of possession of child sexual abuse images and videos whilst he was living at Otteran Place, South Parade, Waterford. (He has since moved on) It took the jury two hours, 5 minutes to come to their decision. The jury had previously heard evidence that Mr O’Grady was given a loan of a computer by another tenant of the house and had used it over the course of a number of months for Italian lessons and ‘personal use’. The defence had accepted that whilst using the computer, Oliver O’Grady had searched for images of young boys in underwear, often at the same time as he was searching Roman Catholic websites, for information such as the lyrics to O Holy Night and the Magnificat. The subject of the child sexual abuse images charge – a video of a semi-naked young girl – had been shown to the jury at the commencement of the trial. Other images which had been accessed on the computer, such as sexualised images of young boys in underwear and swimwear, were not the subject of the charge because they are not considered ‘unlawful’. Conor O’Doherty told the jury that computer usage had been consistent with Mr O’Grady, such as his use of a Yahoo email account, which had been used to contact O’Grady’s own solicitor and a Skype account that was linked to the same email address and had Oliver O’Grady’s phone number attached to it. Mr O’Grady was, according to Conor O’Doherty, the person who had been searching for images of young boys, whilst also accessing sites of a Roman Catholic interest. He was, he said, the main user of the computer. The case contained a lot of technical evidence relating to the items downloaded on to the computer and required the evidence of two separate computer forensic experts, four different members of An Garda Siochana, and five different civilian witnesses that included the landlord of the house, Mr O’Grady’s Italian teacher, two former tenants of 21 Otteran Place and a friend of the original person who loaned the computer, who had found the video in the first instance. O’Grady has previously served time for possessing 280,000 images on laptops and hard drives, the majority showing children in sexual poses, as well as more than 1,000 child sexual abuse video files. Gardaí also found over six hours of videos and over 500 pages of online discussions on the subject of child abuse O’Grady was also exposed as a serial rapist in the early ’90s when, while living in the United States, he was caged for 14 years after admitting to abusing two young brothers. O’Grady moved into Otteran Place in February 2015 after a “religious family’ recommended him to the landlady In January 2018, Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan circulated a letter to Waterford schools warning them of an “extremely dangerous paedophile” who was living in Waterford City at the time. He named Mr O’Grady and said that he was “actively seeking victims”. O’Grady moved out of Otteran Place shortly after the letter was reported in local and national media. Mr O’Grady will be sentenced on October 27. November 2014 Sick paedo priest O’Grady now living beside children in busy apartment block NOTORIOUS paedophile priest Oliver O’Grady, who molested 25 children, is seen here enjoying a leisurely stroll around his new bolt-hole in the south-east of Ireland. O’Grady, who has been described as the Hannibal Lecter of the clerical world, was released from prison in Ireland last April having served a three-year sentence for possession of child abuse images. The evil priest was caged in January 2012 after he accidentally left his lap-top on an Aer Lingus flight, which gardai later found to contain explicit pictures of children, some as young as two.  O’Grady was exposed as a serial rapist in the early ’90s when, while living in the United States, he was caged for 14 years after admitting to abusing two young brothers. He was paroled after seven years before being deported home in 2000. But this week there was nothing in the soft-spoken pensioner’s appearance to suggest he abused dozens of kids and collected a huge stash of child abuse images.  The Sunday World can reveal that O’Grady has been living anonymously in a Waterford city flat since leaving prison.  But neighbours in the apartment block shared by families with young children have no idea of his sickening crimes This week he tried to play down his past crimes when approached. “Why would you want to talk to me?” he asked. When told that it was because of his history of child abuse, he replied: “That’s a long time ago now.” He denied that he is still a danger to children, saying: “No, not at all.” His answer to whether he is in contact with the probation services was: “That would be the normal procedure, yes.” And asked if people had anything to fear from him he replied, “No, they haven’t. Okay?” and disappeared back into the Post Office on the city quays.  Despite his advanced years, O’Grady quickly spotted the Sunday World photographer as he went about his business in the city centre. He darted up a side-street, where he pulled up his hood and then doubled-back, checking over his shoulder to see if he was being followed.  The brief exchange this week was in sharp contrast to the interviews he gave to filmmaker Amy Berg for her award-winning film Deliver Us From Evil.  He left no doubt that he was still sexually attracted to young boys and girls. O’Grady said he wanted the film to serve as the “most honest confession” of his life. He detailed how he preyed on children and said that Church officials knew about his abuses but protected him by moving him from parish to parish. The Church authorities in the U.S. were ordered to pay $30 million in damages, later reduced to $7 million on appeal. O’Grady confirmed that his bishop knew that there were claims that he had abused children in 1976 and before, and that the diocese responded by transferring him to another parish. He claimed in the documentary to be in regular contact with garda authorities.  In a 2005 videotaped deposition, O’Grady claimed he abused as many as 25 children in and around northern California.  He admitted being sexually aroused by looking at children in underwear or swim suits.  He said he preferred boys and girls between eight and 10 years old who were “slim-built, affectionate and playful”, not those who were “forward and |aggressive”. Born in Limerick, O’Grady was ordained into the priesthood at a seminary in Thurles during the late 1960s. He emigrated to the United States in 1971 where he served as a priest at St Anne’s Catholic Church in Lodi, California, until 1978.  He has claimed to have been himself molested by a priest at the age of 10, and that he was involved in sexual abuse in his own family, both as perpetrator and victim.  In 1993, he was convicted on four counts of abusing two young brothers between 1978 and 1991 and was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 1993.  He was paroled after seven years and deported back to Ireland. Before his release, Bishop Stephen Blaire negotiated a deal in which O’Grady would voluntarily leave the priesthood in exchange for a pension that would begin payments when the ex-priest turned 65. In October, 2007, the rented house where he was living in Dundalk was burgled and damaged. He then moved to Holland, but was forced to flee after the documentary aired in that country and alerted shocked neighbours to his true identity. He had been living in Rotterdam where he volunteered at a Catholic parish, calling himself ‘Brother Francis’.  On his return to Ireland in 2010 he accidentally left his laptop on an Aer Lingus flight, which was later found to have a stash of sickening child sex images on its hard-drive.  O’Grady had 280,000 explicit images of children stored on computers and USB drives, some depicting victims as young as two.  Gardaí also found over six hours of videos and over 500 pages of online discussions on the subject of child porn.  Last April he was driven from Arbour Hill by the prison chaplain, avoiding waiting photographers. Until now, his whereabouts had not been widely known. November 2014 Convicted paedophile ex-priest now living in Waterford Jailed in the States for abusing kids the former priest was later caught with a huge stash of child abuse images in Ireland. Released from jail last again last April, he has been living anonymously at a city centre apartment in Waterford. This week he denied he is still a danger to children. February 2012 Notorious paedophile priest left laptop with 280,000 child-abuse images on plane A NOTORIOUS paedophile priest was caught in possession of child pornography after accidentally leaving a laptop on a plane. Oliver O’Grady (66) had thousands of explicit images of children stored on computers and USB drives, some depicting victims as young as two. He was jailed last Tuesday for three years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The images were discovered after O’Grady left his laptop on an Aer Lingus flight. A staff member examined the computer and alerted gardai after coming across the files. Gardai found more than six hours of child pornography videos and over 500 pages of online discussions on the subject of child pornography. The defrocked priest was the subject of the documentary ‘Deliver Us From Evil’ during which he admitted abusing dozens of children. The film by Amy Berg opened in New York, Los Angeles and Boston to critical acclaim in 2006 and was nominated for an Oscar. Interviewed during the film, the former priest showed no remorse for abusing 25 children when he was a parish priest in California. O’Grady, formerly of Charlemont House in Dublin 2, was sentenced to 14 years in the US in 1993 for abusing children. He was deported back to Ireland in 2001 after serving seven years of his sentence and lived in Dundalk for some months before fleeing the town when his home was vandalised. He was back before the courts again yesterday after he accidentally mislaid his laptop, leading the garda Paedophile Investigations Unit to uncover a litany of child porn images and sickening messages. O’Grady pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to three counts of possessing child pornography at Dublin Airport on February 15, 2010, and at Citi Hostel on Charlemont Street and at an Elephant Storage Unit in Tallaght on December 10, 2010. Judge Martin Nolan commented that “if people didn’t download child pornography there is a good chance that those children would not be abused in the first place”. He took into account the early guilty plea and limited co-operation with gardai before jailing him for three years. Detective Garda Gerard Keane of the Paedophile Investigations Unit had earlier told the court that he had found nearly 280,000 images on O’Grady’s laptops and hard drives — the majority of them showing children in sexual poses.  He also found more than 1,000 child pornography video files. An audio file was also discovered.  It started off with O’Grady discussing religious matters but after several minutes he began discussing the sexual abuse of a male child, before returning to the topic of religion. Det Gda Keane also found more than 500 pages of chat logs, which showed O’Grady’s “serious fixation” on children. Most of the data had already been deleted by O’Grady but garda computer experts were able to recover it. The computer was only discovered because O’Grady left it on a flight from Amsterdam to Dublin, and it was put in the lost property department. Aer Lingus rules state that if lost property is not claimed within three months, the staff member who found it is allowed to keep it.  When a staff member claimed possession of the computer and examined its contents, they found the illegal files and alerted gardai. Gardai went to the hostel where O’Grady was staying and he showed them to a locker containing several USB devices and an external hard drive.  He also told them about more computer equipment in a storage facility in Tallaght. All the devices contained illegal files.  O’Grady admitted the equipment was his, but answered “no comment” to all other questions. Defence counsel Philipp Rahn said O’Grady was “a socially isolated man”. He was born in Limerick and emigrated to California after joining the priesthood. After leaving the priesthood, he moved to Amsterdam for several years before returning to Ireland on the flight where he left his laptop behind.