Sex abuse priest to fight extradition over abuse of children in Ireland

Fr Patrick Joseph McCabe, who is facing charges of sexually abusing six boys in Ireland between 1973 and 1981, will challenge attempts to extradite him from the US back to Ireland, according to McCabe’s attorney.

McCabe has been in custody in Santa Rita jail, in San Francisco, California, since he was arrested on foot of an extradition warrant.

McCabe’s attorney, Robert Beles, told The Irish Independent that McCabe would be seeking release from custody pending the extradition proceedings.

"The problem is, he is in deteriorating health,” Beles said. “He has diabetes and a lot of serious health problems. He is not a danger to anybody."

McCabe is also at the center of a sexual abuse case in California, where a victim named only as John Doe 76 is suing the diocese of Santa Rosa, California, where McCabe served as an assistant pastor between 1983 and 1985, and where he allegedly abused the plaintiff, who was then in third grade.

John Doe alleges that McCabe had been moved to Santa Rosa after Archbishop Ryan of Dublin convinced Bishop Mark Hurley of Santa Rosa "to allow McCabe to run St Bernard's Catholic Church in Eureka".