NI man who sexually assaulted unconscious woman is jailed after successful DPP appeal

A man from County Antrim has been imprisoned following a successful appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions against an unduly lenient sentence. Edmund Stewart, aged 33, of Ardgate Place, Newtownabbey, had pleaded guilty at Cavan Circuit Criminal Court to sexually assaulting a woman at the Farnham Arms Hotel in County Cavan on 24 June 2012. The woman was unconscious at the time of the assault. Stewart was originally given a wholly suspended three-year sentence by Judge John O'Hagan in March 2016. The Court of Appeal found this sentence insufficiently severe, with Mr Justice John Edwards stating that a custodial term should have been imposed. Stewart was re-sentenced to three years imprisonment with all but nine months suspended. He is now serving the nine-month custodial element of that sentence.