Aaron Barwell loses appeal against rape sentence

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Aaron Barwell failed to have his rape sentence reduced at the Court of Appeal on 13 October 2025. He had been sentenced at the Central Criminal Court in July 2024 to 20 years, with the final two years suspended.

The Court of Appeal rejected his arguments that the headline sentences were excessive or that the sentencing judge had erred. It said the sentence was long but proportionate, and that the judge had accounted for mitigation, including Barwell’s guilty plea.

Barwell had pleaded guilty to one count of oral rape, one count of rape and one of attempted rape, arising from incidents between January and August 2021. The court upheld the sentence imposed for those offences.