“I have had to fight so hard”

FOR over 20 years Mary McCarthy has been fighting for the truth of what happened to her to come out and despite the mental anguish it has brought in her life, she is determined to keep on fighting.

The mother of four from Williamstown in Co Galway met with the Garda Commissioner, Justin Kelly in November where she claims he said she was not treated properly as a victim when she reported an allegation that she was raped by a priest in Co Mayo in 1990 when she went to him for help when she was three months pregnant.

The allegation was reported by her in 2005 but it emerged that the lead detective was himself sued over an alleged rape and Mary also later discovered that another detective who she says was nasty to her during the investigation was a family friend of the priest. It came as no surprise to Mary when in January 2006, the DPP decided against bringing a prosecution against the priest but the whole process had left her devastated.

“I was devastated and my mental health was destroyed and I took so many overdoses. My life went out of control and it took over every single bean in my body to keep fighting for the truth. I knew I was telling the truth,” she told The Mayo News.

Mary refused to be bowed down by the DPP’s decision and in 2018, after many years of knocking on doors and making phone calls, the then Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, ordered a reinvestigation into the case.

Mary was satisfied that the second investigation was carried out professionally by the Gardaí but ultimately the DPP again decided against bringing a prosecution citing a lack of evidence.

Meeting

ALTHOUGH she was left disappointed with the outcome, it did not distract her from seeking answers from An Garda Siochána and last November she was finally granted a meeting with the new Garda Commissioner, Justin Kelly.

Mary explained she attended the meeting with a friend and claims that during the meeting Commissioner Kelly admitted she was not treated as a victim and what happened to her would not happen now.

“I have had to fight so hard. I have been fighting for 20 plus years to get to meet the Commissioner and the journey has been so difficult.

“I thought meeting the Garda Commissioner was going to bring some peace of mind to me but believe it or not it has nearly done the opposite. It has nearly turned my life upside down more now than it ever did. Listening to the words ‘you were not treated as a victim’, I found that very difficult because I always knew myself that I wasn’t treated as a victim. But when you hear it from the top it is very difficult,” she said.

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While she believes the comments of Commissioner Kelly are genuine, Mary now feels that it is time that she receives an official written apology from An Garda Siochána in order for her to finally get some closure.

“I have never regretted anything I have done in my quest for justice. I wish it hadn’t happened and the incident never happened and I wish it was investigated properly in the very beginning. I have accepted it wasn’t but I need to be able to move on and for that to happen I need a Garda apology and a proper apology where it is meant and not just ticking a box.

“I want reassurance that this will never happen to anyone else and nobody will be put through what I have been put through.

“I have asked for a written apology. When I was asked why I wanted it in writing, I explained it was for my children as well. They have suffered so much because of what has happened.”

Neither Mary nor her friend took notes at the meeting which was also attended by five members of An Garda Siochana including the Commissioner and she requested the minutes be forwarded to her. She also provided the gardaí with a list of questions she has asked to be addressed.

Annoyance

HOWEVER, over three months on, she is annoyed that she has yet to receive correspondence from the Gardaí to outline when this information will be made available.

“It feels like they gave with one hand and took back with the other, saying I wasn’t treated as a victim and things would be different now but when I asked for the notes of the meeting they would not give them to me. I gave them a list of questions which I wanted answered and I am still waiting on the answers for those three and a half months down the line.

“ I have spoken to the deputy commissioner’s office and I have been told they have put them together but they are waiting for them to be checked out but they won’t give me any timeline on when I may get them. In my mind it is kicking the can down the road and there is no closure for me.”

Allegation

MARY’S ordeal began in 1990 when she found out she was pregnant and a friend recommended she visit a priest she knew for advice. Mary says the first two times she met him everything was fine but alleges on the third visit she was raped by him. She also alleges she was raped a second time by the priest after he gave her a lift in his car.

Mary McCarthy

Mary says she had her daughter and ‘got on with my life’ until a chance encounter with the priest at a funeral led her to confront him. She alleges that he told her ‘the devil got a hold of me’ and that he offered her €10,000 to get counselling for herself and begged her not to go to the Gardaí or the Archbishop.

When the DPP failed to bring criminal prosecutions against the priest, Mary brought civil proceedings against him and an out of court settlement was reached.

While Mary does not believe she will get her day in court, she takes comfort to know that the priest no longer says Mass in public and this she says illustrates that she is telling the truth.

“I don’t believe I will ever get justice to get him prosecuted. Yes he should be, he should not have got away with what he has done. But at the end of the day he has not gone back as a practicing priest and that tells you everything and that is the way I look at it. If the Church thought he wasn’t guilty why did they not put him back as a practicing priest,” she said.

Mary has met with the Archbishop of Tuam, Francis Duffy regarding what happened to her and expressed her disappointment that she understands the priest continues to live in property owned by the Church and feels this is wrong.

Going Public

THE reason Mary is prepared to go public with her story is to ensure that other victims do not have to go through what she has. The endless fight for justice, she says has ‘ripped everything apart’ in her life including her marriage and as far as she is concerned her four children have been real victims in all of this.

“I do think things have changed somewhat but there is a long way to go. Nobody should have to be fighting for justice and put through the mill the way I have been. I know I am not the only one that has happened to. When you are taking on the system and the likes of the church and the gardaí, you really have a fight on your hands because you are really up against it.

Resilience

“I THINK only because I am a really strong and resilient person I would not be here today. I really wouldn’t but I know the truth and I believe in my truth and that is what counts for me.

“People should be treated as victims and not like they are the ones who have committed the crime.I have spoken to people who have gone through the trauma of giving statements but their case never sees the inside of a court. It is so difficult.

“Only last week I walked down the street and next thing a woman came up to me and said I was so brave. She had read my story and because of reading my story it gave her the courage to go to the guards about hers. I helped one person and I always said if I could help one person that would mean so much to me.”

As well as meeting with the Garda Commissioner, Mary also met with Minister of Justice, Jim O’Callaghan and she is currently working with James Brannigan, a retired PSNI detective who set up the Katie Trust, in memory of murdered showjumper, Katie Simpson. Mary says the charity works with people who believe their cases have not been properly investigated with the purpose of seeking truth, transparency, and, where necessary, justice.

Keep on fighting

AS Mary continues on her journey for closure in her own story and an apology from An Garda Siochána, her advice to people who are on similar journeys is to never give up the fight.

“Keep fighting and knocking on doors and don’t take no for an answer. If you know you are telling the truth then you keep fighting for it no matter how hard it is, keep fighting. Everyone deserves the truth and justice in whatever form they get their justice but you have to keep knocking on doors and cannot give up. Yes it will bring you to your knees and it has brought me to my knees but I have kept going.

“If I can help anyone else by speaking out I will continue to do that.”