Patrick Devine (19) returned to Dunfanaghy in Donegal earlier this week after he was bailed for dropping his trousers in front of the home of a Senegalese governor.

He was convicted on Wednesday and issued with a fine and a suspended sentence in his absence.

The teenager was thrown in prison on July 27 after he was caught outside the property in St Louis as he carried out one of a string of dares.

He was in the Senegalese city working with street children through the Teaching And Projects Abroad programme.

The family's bar, owned by Patrick's dad Patsy, was closed for business yesterday, and his parents, including mum Noreen who travelled to Senegal to support him, have appealed to be left alone.

A family friend, Father Martin Doohan, from Holy Cross Church in Patrick's seaside hometown, was in regular contact with the teenager, who wrote letters and sent pictures about his work with the youngsters.

Fr Doohan has now given the letters and photographs to the teenager's parents.

He yesterday paid glowing tribute to the freed youth and spoke of the local relief that he was back home.

"Patrick left here in July, going out to do work that other young people out there would shy away from," he said.

"He went to help disadvantaged children and raised £3,000 himself to do so.

"He would often send us correspondence and in one picture he is among children in a classroom with some other adults," he added.

"The smiles on the faces of the children made us very proud of the fact that he was helping - he was our face, our conscience and our representation in that country and we never lost sight of that.

"He was a face of hope.

"Young people sometimes, on holiday, can do things they wouldn't normally do at home, but what happened to Patrick was like a bad dream.

"Despite all that happened, the community are still very supportive of Patrick, and I would like to personally include myself in that.

"I have only been at this parish for a short time, but in that time I have come to know Patrick as a very kind person - a very helpful person.

"There is a palpable sense of relief that he has returned. A parish is like a large family and like any family the parish here was distressed by what happened and was anxious to see he would return safely and now he has come home."

He described the Devine family as "decent, quiet and hardworking" and appealed for them to be left alone to recover from the ordeal.