Couple convicted of blackmailing priest

[Ian David]

A Romanian man has been sentenced to four years in prison for blackmailing a priest and extorting €15,000 from him, while his wife has received a suspended sentence.

Petre Zsiga and his wife Margaret, who live at Knocknacarra, in Galway, both pleaded guilty at Galway Circuit Court to blackmailing Fr Brendan Lawless, the parish priest of Portumna, in 2005.

<snip>

He said she had offered Fr Lawless sexual relations but he had made it clear to her that he did not want to have a sexual affair with her.

A few days later however Margaret Zsiga told Fr Lawless that she had an incriminating video of the priest and would go to the press unless he paid her €14,500.

More:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0720/priest.html