Paedophile Priest Finian Egan Faces Sex Abuse Victims in Sydney Court

A woman who was raped as a child by a paedophile priest has told her abuser: "May God have mercy on your soul, because I certainly don't."

The dramatic meeting between the woman and two other sex abuse victims with disgraced Catholic priest Finian Egan took place in a Sydney courtroom.

Facing the 79-year-old as he was convicted of rape and seven counts of indecent assault, another woman said that his abuse of 40 years ago was still "crucifying" her today.

Egan carried out sexual abuse across three decades from the 1970s. One woman became his victim when she was only 10. He sat her on his lap, removed her underwear and then molested her, the court heard.

She told him in court: "I was a 10-year-old child who needed to be cared for, but instead I was manipulated, abused, punished and humiliated."

Egan heard how his actions had caused permanent damage to his victims.

The woman continued: "There's no amount of money or someone saying sorry that can remedy the damage done to me as a child. Father Egan took away the chance for me to experience my first kiss with a boy, my first sexual experience."

Another victim said in court: "Still to this day I'm being crucified for what he has done. I'm here today to lay the blame where it belongs: at the feet of the paedophile sitting in front of you."

Egan was snared when the woman and others used a group called Towards Healing for helping victims of sex abuse by members of the Church.

The court heard that the victims struggled to find anybody to report the abuse to at the time. On woman's mother had disowned her in the wake of the scandal, while another victim recalled being made to drink engine oil by a nun whom she told about Egan.