A survivor of prolific paedophile priest Brendan Smyth, has said she will accept the decision to not remove his grave from Kilnacrott Abbey in Ballyjamesduff. Brendan Smyth died in prison in 1997 where he was serving a 12-year sentence after pleading guilty to 74 charges of indecent and sexual assault over 35 years. He had previously spent time in a jail in the North for similar heinous crimes.
Smyth, a member of the Norbertine Order, was buried at dawn in Kilnacrott Abbey and concrete poured over his grave for fear that some may try to desecrate it. Work to demolish Kilnacrott Abbey has just begun to make way for a new Catholic education and retreat centre. For some years, as plans to convert the 100-yr-old abbey took shape, there has been calls to exhume Smyth's body and re-inter it elsewhere. But, Loretto Martin, who describes herself as a survivor not a victim, says doing that would only cause more upset.
She said moving her abuser's remains will "not make her life any better" and would only create what she calls "another blow-up" for the people trying to get on with their lives. Loretto successfully led a campaign to have the title "Reverend" removed from Smyth's headstone. The social worker told the Joe Finnegan Show he is always with her but her anger is not all for the paedophile priest but, with those who allowed him to carry out his abuse of children: "really my angst isn't with him because f people had stopped him he wouldn't be able to do it and they're the bits that concern me," Loretto told the Joe Finnegan Show, "Y'know he's in his grave and a ton of concrete ; he was protected even in his death but, I can let that go. What I can't let go is the cover-ups and the lies."
