A former Marist brother and primary school teacher has been convicted by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury of 35 charges of sexually abusing four young boys at a Sligo school over 40 years ago.
Christopher Cosgrove (66 ) of Cloughreevagh, Ballyhaunis Road, Claremorris, had pleaded not guilty to 55 charges of indecent assault at the school on dates between July 1, 1968 and June 30, 1977.
He had denied 14 charges in relation to the first two complainants, nine charges in relation to a third, 17 charges in relation to a fourth complainant and one charge in relation to another boy.
Judge Patrick McCartan had withdrawn 20 charges from the jury last Friday, which involved one charge in relation to the first complainant, all charges in relation to the second man and five charges in relation to the third complainant.
The jury of seven men and five women took seven and half hours to return unanimous verdicts on the remaining 35 charges on day six of the trial.
Judge McCartan thanked the jury for their service in what he described as a hard and difficult case and excused them from jury duty for 10 years, before he remanded Cosgrove on continuing bail to a date next May for sentence.
Cosgrove had previously been convicted of the sexual assault of these boys in Sligo Circuit Criminal Court but that conviction was later overturned in the Court of Criminal Appeal.
The trial heard that the abuse took place on a frequent basis and in front of a classroom.
