Irish network issues public apology to priest wrongly accused of rape

October 07, 2011

Ireland's RTE broadcast network has issued an "unreserved apology" to a priest who was identified as a rapist in an RTE broadcast.

Father Kevin Reynolds brought suit against RTE after the network aired the claim of a Kenyan woman that the priest had raped her and fathered her child while he was serving as a missionary in the African country. Father Reynolds--who immediately offered to take a paternity test--was suspended from ministry because of the charge.

At a September hearing in the priest's lawsuit, a judge scolded RTE for broadcasting the accusation without supporting evidence, noting that “in the environment in which we now live in it was hard to consider that anything more serious could be said about a cleric."

Now RTE has issued a statement that the charges against Father Reynolds are "baseless, without any foundation whatever, and untrue." The network said of the priest: "He was entirely innocent of the allegations broadcast about him."

 

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Further information:

• RTÉ issues 'unreserved apology' after it defamed a priest by accusing him of rape (Irish Catholic)