AN obese 66-year-old church elder convicted of indecently assaulting a young girl will not be sent to jail because his health is in a “precarious” state.
John William McConaghy
John William McConaghy, from Urbal Road, Dervock, County Antrim, was found guilty of indecent assault. He was serving as an elder Ballycastle Gospel Hall and was a Sunday school teacher when the offences took place.
Judge David Smyth at Antrim Crown Court suspended a two-and-a-half year term.
He said McConaghy’s lack of mobility, ulcerated legs and need for frequent dressings amounted to “wholly exceptional circumstances”.
The jail term was suspended for three years and a £10,000 fine was also imposed.
During a 10-day trial in October McConaghy’s victim, who is now 44, said she was indecently assaulted from the age of around 10 until she was 18.
According to this report, the victim claimed that McConaghy sexually abused her to the extent she began to think such behaviour was “the norm”.
The court was also told the 66-year-old, an elder at Gospel Hall since 1977, allegedly “offered” her to a friend.
The elder denied a total of 27 charges of indecent assault allegedly committed between June 1975 and December 1983, when the girl was aged 18.
His now 53-year-old friend, John McElheran, also a church elder, denied a total of four indecent assault charges allegedly committed between May 1977 and May 1982. When he was acquitted of all charges he declared:
I’m very, very relieved. The Lord is my shepherd.
When the charges were put to McConaghy at the start of his trial, he said:
I totally deny them …. That’s untrue…. It never happened, never…. I says that’s totally untrue …. That’s completely false … That never happened.
On the specific claim that he had incited his cousin, “through rude remarks” to abuse the then teenage girl, McConaghy replied that:
Being members of the Gospel Hall we would never lower ourselves to have such a conversation.
The woman told the jury of six men and six women that over the years there was:
A better than even chance of being touched on my boobs or a hand put up my skirt by the church elder. It was a constant thing, it seemed to go on and on and on. It was never gentle, it was either a push or a shove.
The woman described McConaghy as a “welcome visitor” to her home, about three times a week, and that to him “it didn’t matter” where he abused her
If he saw a chance he would take it. If it happened in the shed, so be it. If it happened in the house, so be it. If it happened outside the shed, so be it. It depended how lucky he was, or unlucky I was.
Later she explained that the abuse happened so often that, “it was constant, it was just drip, drip, drip all the time, it got to be the norm”.
Earlier prosecution lawyer Kate McKay claimed that on one occasion, while driving the girl in his car, Mr McConaghy “offered” her to a friend, allegedly telling him, “would you not try her?”
On another occasion the man, after allegedly being told “now’s your chance”, climbed into the back seat of the car to abuse her while she tried to ward him off with a screwdriver, but he proved too strong, the court was told.
The court heard that the woman finally went to the police because she was worried her younger sister might end up in the same situation, but that when interviewed, the men denied everything.
According to a BBC report, she said McConaghey’s abuse “petered out” as she reached adulthood and struck back at him, scratching his face as she fought him off.
Speaking after the sentencing the woman said was “not happy” he was freed, but nevertheless understood the reason why.
I am happy with the sentence he got, I think that was a fair sentence, but I am not happy with the suspension of it, but I understand the reason for it on medical grounds.
She added that she was glad she had pursued the case against him:
Because everybody now knows, church elder or not, what he is.
Hat tip: BarrieJohn
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
December 4th, 2009 at 8:29 am
As with other “faithful servants of the Lord” who have featured on this blog (Jerry Falwell, ‘Apostle Prophet’ McKinney, Mrs Helen Ukpabio, to name but a few), the Spirit of Gluttony seems to be well in evidence here!
December 4th, 2009 at 9:28 am
I didn’t know those wafers were so fattening! Hopefully his gluttony will kill him.
December 4th, 2009 at 10:17 am
He’s “Gospel Hall”, @Angela_K! That’s the (Open) Plymouth Brethren, of which I have so much knowledge. THEY don’t have wafers, THEY have PROPER bread!!
December 4th, 2009 at 10:24 am
It IS sheer hypocrisy, though, isn’t it? They come down like a ton of bricks (if you’ll pardon the use of that expression in this context!) on any Christian who is a slave to alcohol or tobacco (“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost…and ye are not your own?”), and will quite happily “put them out of fellowship” over those particular weaknesses, yet they feel free to quite literally eat themselves to death!!
December 4th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Barriejohn, thanks for the comment. That would be the proper bread that turns into the body of some dead bloke when some other bloke mumbles bollocks over it.
Perhaps I should have said cannibalism makes you fat!
December 4th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
There was a sadly similar case round here a decade ago. In that one, despite it being a small town, the police had a hell of a job getting it to court because the church elders ‘persuaded’ the families of most of the abused not to ‘ruin a good man’ by giving evidence. Those who did were not only driven out of the church but the area. Given that they came here in the first place to escape the Northern Irish ‘troubles’ there was really nowhere left for them to go to either.
December 4th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
2 and a half year’s suspended sentence for 27 counts of indecent assault of a child! What the hell is going on?
December 4th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
You’re REALLY confused there, @Angela_K! It’s the WAFERS that turn into the actual Body of Christ, as any fule kno!! At least the non-conformists don’t make THAT claim. (The Lord’s Supper is only seen as a commemorative observance.) Also, it’s eating too much STARCH that makes you fat – you really haven’t been paying attention, have you?
December 4th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
I’d like to take that filthy bastard for a little walk somewhere in his wheelchair. I know just the place!
December 4th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
You don’t surprise me at all, Stuart H. I was a member of the Plymouth Brethren here in England, but many of their adherents are of Scottish or Irish descent, as are many of their leading “speakers”. They are almost without exception narrow-minded, bigoted, ignorant and overbearing people, cast very much in the mould of Ian Paisley! They are not people to be crossed. I have mentioned before the lovely young woman with whom I grew up, who threw herself from a multi-storey car park some twenty years ago because her father-in-law (a real leading light amongst the local Brethren) had been abusing her sons. The cause of her grief, though, was only known, and probably is to this day, to a select few; and that is that he had been doing this before and had, after tears of repentance, been “forgiven” and given another chance! I don’t think that ANY of these facts were made widely known or reported to the authorities, and he simply left the organization and was welcomed with open arms by another local evangelical church. (They all love to “poach” members from one another, BTW. It’s like a competition!) The boys, of course, went off the rails, but that was of little concern. Everything has to be done to hush up any such scandals within the sect, “for the sake of the testimony” (a phrase that I heard over and over again)!!
December 6th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
I just wish the media would get all this right. This man was not an elder in his church or ever was. He did not have sexual intercourse with this girl or even near it. This man has been a victim of a twisted person who after 30 years waited until the man was unable to defend himself and made allegations. This man would have been uncapable of any misendeamour, because I knew him personally and 30 years ago his mobility was poor. If he was as bad as she says why didn’t she get a lift to church with someone else. She would have been alot faster on her feet to avoided him. This reeks with discrepancies and I hope he gets justice for what she has done. She stated she was abused at sunday school until she was 18! She left at 15! One of her many untrue allegations.If it caused her so much concern, why didn’t she shout before now? Hadn’t the guts I persume.
December 6th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
I too was a member of the Brethern, and I’m disgusted at Barry John for his view of them. You make it out that all brethern churches and people are the same. Shame on you
December 7th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Excuses,excuses. why did church members try and stop this abuse as they knew darn well it was happening.
They, the abusers, of course do not really believe in a god but know that by entering the church they can abuse little boys and girls and get away with it. When convicted only to get light sentances.
Stop giving y our meoney churchgoers to pay for priests pensions for your money goes to buy shares to pay these.
December 7th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
“I was a member of the Plymouth Brethren here in England”
I notice past tense. What did you do wrong you were ejected? Want to tell us or do we just guess?