Courts / Wicklow / Report
Ex priest and serial child rapist has jail time quadrupled
Summary
Defrocked priest Denis Nolan, aged 71, had his prison term quadrupled by the Court of Appeal. He had previously been jailed for seven years in 2014 for sexually abusing a boy over five years, and for six years in 2017 for rape and abuse of another boy. In December 2023 he pleaded guilty to three counts of anal rape, one of oral rape and five of sexual assault of a third boy, with offences dated 2001‑2005. The trial judge imposed a nine‑year sentence, suspending seven‑and‑a‑half years, but the Court of Appeal quashed that and imposed a new six‑year term to run consecutively with his existing sentence, which expires in December. The appeal was based on the claim that the suspended portion was unduly excessive and that the original sentence did not reflect the overall gravity of the offences.
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: Ex priest and serial child rapist has jail time quadrupled. Charges or matters: three counts of anal rape, one of oral rape and five of sexual assault of the third boy on dates between January 2001 and December 2005. Procedural stage: appeal
When:
- January 2001 Incident
- December 2005 Incident
- 1998 to 2012 Incident
- 2006 to 2012 Incident
- 2023-06-08 Publication
Why: Ms Justice O'Connor handed down a nine-year sentence but then suspended seven-and-a-half years in order to allow for Nolan's rehabilitation upon his release from jail. CNI source report
Case subjects
Convicted Person
Charges: three counts of anal rape, one of oral rape and five of sexual assault of the third boy on dates between January 2001 and December 2005 (Admitted)
Plea: Guilty
Outcome: In 2014, Nolan was jailed for seven years for systematically sexually abusing a boy in Co Wicklow over a five-year period beginning in 2009 when the boy was 12. In sentencing Nolan, Ms Justice Karen O'Connor said that but for the fact Nolan was currently serving a lengthy jail term, she would have imposed a sentence of nine years.
Places mentioned
- Court of Appeal
- Central Criminal Court
Topics
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