A jury took over five and a half hours to find an 80-year-old former school principal guilty of indecently assaulting 11 female students over a 21-year period.
The jury at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court unanimously found Patrick Barry of Well Road, Kilkee guilty on 59 counts of indecent assault against the school girls between 1964 and 1985 at Moyasta National School.
Judge Gerald Keyes had directed the jury to find Barry not guilty on eight outstanding counts for legal reasons.
Counsel for the State, Anthony Sammon SC, said: “It is the express wish of the complainants that Mr Barry be named.”
The judge ordered that Barry be identified and placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register.
Judge Keyes remanded Barry on continuing bail to reappear before the court in October 28 to fix a date for sentence.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.