Courts / Cavan / Report

Child rapist to appeal 20-year sentence

Date
2020-05-18

Stage
Appeal

Primary locality
Cootehill

County
Cavan

Summary

Michael McCarville, a 53-year-old farm labourer, is set to appeal his 20-year prison sentence at the Court of Appeal. The Monaghan native, residing in Cootehill, Cavan, was charged with 187 counts of indecent assault and sexual assault involving seven children from the same family between 1982 and 1999. The alleged abuse, which reportedly began when McCarville was 15 and the victims were as young as seven, took place in farm sheds, outhouses, and fields. In December 2016, McCarville pleaded guilty to 52 sample charges of indecent and sexual assault. He was subsequently sentenced in March 2017 to 20 years in prison. The seven victims, who agreed to McCarville being named in the media while retaining their anonymity, have not waived their right to privacy. At the Court of Appeal today, Mr Justice George Birmingham set a date of Monday, 9th November, for the hearing of McCarville's appeal against the sentence. The matter is currently at the appeal stage, with the specific procedural step being the scheduling of the appeal hearing rather than a final determination of the case.