US JUDGE RESERVES JUDGMENT ON IRISH PRIEST EXTRADITION

Date Published: 11-Dec-2009

A US judge is reserving judgement on the extradition of an 81 year old Irish priest charged with sexually abusing a teenage boy in Donegal and Galway.

Fr Francis Markey is accused of raping the alleged victim during a pilgrimage to Lough Derg and again after the funeral of the boy's father in Galway in 1968.

At yesterday's hearing, his defence lawyers argued a case of mistaken identity.

They also said a change in Irish law abolished the crime with which Fr Markey is charged.

The judge will make his decision at the end of the month.