Man jailed for life for raping four daughters fails in appeal

The Court of Criminal Appeal has dismissed an appeal against a life sentence imposed on a man convicted of raping four of his daughters over an 18-year period. The three-judge court ruled that the sentencing judge was entitled to impose the maximum penalty. The man, now aged 52, pleaded guilty in December 2011 at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Castlebar, County Mayo, to sample counts of rape and child cruelty spanning from 1991 to 2009. The appellant's counsel argued that the trial judge erred in principle by prioritising victim reassurance in sentencing, and that mitigating factors including a late guilty plea and the man's dysfunctional background and alcohol abuse should have been weighted more heavily. The court rejected these submissions, finding that credible threats made by the man to one victim were an exceptional circumstance the sentencing judge was entitled to consider. The court determined that no mitigating factors could outweigh the horrific and exceptional nature of the offences.