Brendan Smyth O.Praem (8 June 1927 – 22 August 1997) was a Roman Catholic priest from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who became notorious as a child molester, using his position in the Roman Catholic Church to obtain access to his victims.
During a period of over 40 years, Smyth sexually abused and indecently assaulted at least 143 children in parishes in Belfast, Dublin and the United States.
His actions were frequently hidden from police and the public by Roman Catholic officials.
Controversy surrounding his case contributed to the downfall of the government of Republic of Ireland in December 1994.
Author: user:Illumina29. This version was cleaned up from stains by uploader. Source: Illumina29's own photograph, a bit damaged from a recent flood. He took this photo when he was about 9 years old License: CC-BY-SA-3.0-migrated GFDL