'Vindication': Former priest who sexually abused sisters to spend extra six years in prison

THE SURVIVORS OF abuse at the hands of former priest Richard Brennan – who raped two of his sisters and indecently assaulted another – have welcomed the Court of Appeal’s decision to increase his original eight-year prison sentence by six years.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) last month sought a review of the sentence imposed on Brennan (65) on the grounds that it was unduly lenient.

The Court of Appeal today agreed with the State’s case and resentenced him to 14 years in prison.

Delivering judgment, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said the original sentence imposed failed to reflect the gravity of the offending.

She said Brennan had sexually abused his three sisters over a prolonged period of time. She said the offending involved repeated rape, the exploitation of vulnerable children, a profound breach of familial trust and devastating consequences for each victim.

Brennan, with previous addresses in Rathfarnham and the United States, had pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court in March 2025 to 24 counts against his three sisters, Catherine Wrightstone, Yvonne Crist and Paula Fay, including 18 of indecent assault and six charges of rape. He was aged between 17 and 24 years old at the time of the offending.

Brennan entered the guilty pleas on the ninth day of the trial, after each of the three women had given evidence before a jury and before the final victim was about to be cross-examined.

He was sentenced to a global term of nine years with the final 12 months suspended by Mr Justice David Keane in July 2025.

At the time, the defendant’s sisters had expressed “deep disappointment” over the sentence handed down to Brennan.

The 65-year-old was ordained as a priest in 1989 and moved to the US, but later married and had a family. He returned from the US to Ireland for questioning and the trial.

Speaking outside court today, Ms Fay and Ms Wrightstone welcomed the Court of Appeal’s decision to increase Brennan’s original sentence.

Ms Fay described it as “a profound moment of justice and vindication”.

She said historical sexual abuse leaves deep scars and when the original sentence was handed down it felt like a second injustice – one that gave “undue credit for a late guilty plea and failed to reflect the devastating, lifelong impact of the abuse”.

“Today the court has put that right,” she said. “By recognising the immense scale of Richard’s offending, the court has affirmed that historical sexual abuse within a family will not be minimised, and that survivors will be heard.”

Ms Wrightstone also welcomed the decision, saying “it finally feels like justice has been served”.

After today’s ruling, Ms Fay said historical sexual abuse is a “heinous crime” and today’s decision by the court sends a “clear message” that it will be met with “the full force of the law, regardless of how much time has elapsed”.

Ms Fay said the court has sent an “unequivocal message”, that a late plea does not erase “a campaign of abuse”, nor does it “diminish the trauma inflicted on victims who had to endure the gruelling process of giving evidence and cross-examination.

She added: “I feel an overwhelming sense of relief that the gravity of this case has finally been recognised. While no sentence can ever fully undo the damage caused, and while the pain remains, this landmark outcome restores my faith in the justice system and offers a true sense of accountability.”

To any survivors still “carrying this burden in silence”, Ms Fay said. “Please know that there is support”.

She said everyone’s journey is unique and there is no “set timeline for healing” but there is “strength in speaking out, and justice is possible”.

Ms Wrightstone expressed her gratitude to the DPP for their hard work and for seeking the appeal.

“But I am most grateful to the three judges who oversaw the Appeal,” she said. “It was extremely validating on 5 October to hear Judge Kennedy challenge the level of mitigation Richard Brennan received last year for what we regard as a self-serving, last-minute expression of remorse.”

Advertisement

She added: “For me, her comments were particularly significant. Having carried the loneliness and painful consequences of speaking out at age 12 about the abuse and it continuing for many years, it meant a great deal to finally hear that acknowledged.”

She also paid tribute to the advocacy work of Lavinia Kerwick, noting it was her case that led to “a historic legislative change”, empowering the DPP to appeal court sentences on the grounds of “undue leniency” and to survivors being afforded the ability to give a victim impact statement in court.

“I’d also like to recognise our sister, Yvonne Crist, who could not be present in person today but shares in our feelings about today’s outcome,” said Ms Wrightstone. “I only wish our youngest sister, Sinead, could have lived to see this outcome.”

Ms Wrightstone said that while she recognised that Ireland has made advances, based on her own and her siblings’ lived experience “it is difficult to see that enough has changed for survivors, who continue to have to fight to be heard”.

The abuse survivor said she had written to the Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan in April outlining eight specific changes she would like to see happen.

“While receipt of my email was acknowledged, I have not received a substantive response or been granted a meeting,” Ms Wrightstone said.

“Finally, we want to be clear: we did not waive our anonymity for sympathy, but so that change could occur. I wish those in positions of power would actually listen to survivors and take action towards meaningful change.”

At the appeal hearing in October, counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Fiona Murphy SC, argued that the discount given by the sentencing judge from the headline sentences was excessive, considering all the circumstances of the case.

She said there was no basis for a further reduction of one year suspended, adding that overall, the sentence imposed did not reflect the seriousness of the offending.

In resentencing Brennan today, Ms Justice Kennedy said this was offending of “an extremely grave nature” with multiple aggravating factors, including the breach of trust involved and the vulnerability of the victims.

The judge said Brennan committed the offences over a period of seven years and there was an overlap in the offending concerning two of the victims. She said the impact on all three was “severe and long-lasting”.

Ms Justice Kennedy held that the discount for mitigation to the global headline sentence was “excessive in all circumstances” and the suspension of one year was “unjustified”. She said overall, the sentence imposed failed to reflect the gravity of the offending.

Ms Justice Kennedy found that the nomination of a headline sentence of 12 years and 10 years respectively for the rape offences committed against Ms Wrightstone and Ms Fay on a global basis did not adequately reflect the overall gravity of the offending, in particular the multiplicity of victims, the sustained nature of the abuse, the overlap in the offending and the young ages of the victims.

She set new headline terms of 16 and 13 years before reducing these to 14 and 11 years after mitigation, with both sentences to run concurrently.

Ms Justice Kennedy said the court did not consider that any portion of those sentences should be suspended.

During the appeal, lawyers for Brennan argued that his prison sentence should not be increased because he was allegedly abused by his older brother and introduced to sexual behaviour from age three.

Counsel for Brennan, John Byrne SC, said that the headline sentence took into account the respondent’s moral culpability and reflected his age at the time.

He said that one could not divorce the case from the offending of the respondent’s brother, Bernard, as he said that Richard Brennan had been abused by Bernard and encouraged to abuse their sisters.

“This behaviour was normalised by Bernard’s behaviour,” said Mr Byrne.

Bernard Brennan (68), formerly of Rathfarnham, Dublin, but who most recently was also residing in the United States, was jailed for four and a half years after he admitted to sexual abuse of both Yvonne Crist and Paula Faye.

Richard Brennan had pleaded guilty to four sample charges of indecent assault and four rape charges against Paula Fay on dates between January 1978 and December 1981 when she was aged between 13 and 17 years old.

Brennan also pleaded guilty to 13 sample incidences of indecent assault and two charges of rape against Catherine Wrightstone, on dates between June 1980 and December 1984 while she was aged between nine and 14. He also pleaded guilty to indecent assault against the oldest of the sisters, Yvonne Crist, when she was about 20 years old on dates between June 1979 and June 1980.

He has no previous convictions.