Bill Kenneally appeal upholds 14-year indecent assault sentence

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

The Court of Appeal upheld Bill Kenneally’s 14-year-and-two-month sentence for indecent assault, reported on 22 February 2018. He had pleaded guilty to ten sample counts involving ten boys at locations in Waterford during the 1980s.

The court held that the sentence, although severe, was not so severe as to be an error in principle. It described the nature, scale and extent of the offending as highly unusual, citing the number of complainants, grooming, photographs and Kenneally’s influence over the boys.

Kenneally had originally faced 70 charges covering the 1970s and 1980s. The sentence was imposed at Waterford Circuit Criminal Court in February 2016, with consecutive 17-month terms for each of the ten victims.