Former priest and Irish Times columnist has abuse conviction quashed

The Court of Appeal has quashed the conviction of Barry Fergal Jennings, a 57-year-old former priest and Irish Times columnist from Cloonkeerin, Frenchpark, County Roscommon. Jennings had been sentenced to four years imprisonment following his conviction in March 2022 on six counts of sexual assault against a schoolboy at locations in Dublin between September 1998 and December 1999. He had denied the charges. Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy found that the trial judge failed to provide adequate direction to the jury regarding the limited and proper use of evidence concerning complaints made by the victim. The judge stated that such evidence could only demonstrate consistency of the complainant's account, not corroborate the allegations themselves. Ms Justice Kennedy determined that the absence of this instruction rendered the conviction unsafe, as the jury risked accepting complaint evidence as supporting proof of the facts alleged. She concluded there had been a substantial oversight giving rise to apprehension of real injustice, and accordingly quashed the conviction.