Violent attacker who had it 'in his mind' to rape victim (85) has sentence increased

A man from Ballyjamesduff, County Cavan, has had his prison sentence increased by the Court of Appeal following a Director of Public Prosecutions appeal against undue leniency. Shane Smith, aged 32, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting an elderly woman during a forcible entry to her home on 6 April 2018. He restrained the victim on her bed and also falsely imprisoned her. Smith additionally admitted assaulting a man with a shovel and knife in November 2018. At Cavan Circuit Criminal Court in November 2020, Smith received four years and six months imprisonment for sexual assault and one year and ten months for false imprisonment, with both sentences imposed to run concurrently. The DPP challenged these sentences as manifestly inadequate, citing aggravating circumstances including the advanced age of the sexual assault victim and the premeditated nature of the attacks. The prosecution contended that consecutive rather than concurrent sentencing should have been imposed. The Court of Appeal upheld the DPP's appeal, finding that the trial judge erred in principle through the imposition of concurrent sentences. The court determined that the original sexual assault sentence was itself too lenient given the serious and violent nature of the offending. The appellate judges restructured the sentencing to ensure appropriate gravity was reflected in the overall custodial term imposed. Smith's sentence has been increased to seven years imprisonment, with the final twelve months suspended. This restructuring ensures he will serve a substantially longer period in custody than originally ordered. The decision reflects the Court of Appeal's assessment that the original sentencing insufficiently reflected the severity of sexually assaulting a vulnerable elderly victim during an intrusive home invasion, coupled with the associated false imprisonment offence and separate violent assault.