C.B. loses appeal against convictions and supervision conditions

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

The Court of Appeal dismissed C.B.’s appeals against his convictions and the conditions of his sentence in a judgment delivered by Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy on 26 March 2021. The court found that the conditions were fair, reasonable and entirely justified.

C.B. was convicted on 7 November 2018 of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl and possessing child pornography. He received four years and six months’ imprisonment for the sexual assault, with the final 18 months suspended. For possessing child pornography, he received one year, with the final three months suspended.

The conditions included three years of probation supervision from his release, compliance with the service’s directions and recommendations, and an appropriate therapeutic course for sex offenders as directed by the service. The court said he remained on the sex offenders register for life.

The complainant said C.B. touched her in his apartment and threatened her not to tell anyone. A disc containing child sexual abuse material was found during a search of his property on 15 September 2016. When interviewed the following day, C.B. denied the allegations, said his dealings with the girl were innocent and that he had taken pity on her family. He said he had not knowingly possessed the disc.

His conviction appeal argued that the two charges should have been tried separately, that the jury should have been discharged after the complainant’s mother alleged he had abused other children, and that the judge should have given a corroboration warning. The Court of Appeal rejected those grounds.