Courts / Galway / Report

Man fails to overturn conviction for raping partner beside sleeping baby

Date
2025-05-08

Stage
Appeal

Primary locality
Galway

County
Galway

Summary

In a Court of Appeal hearing on 8 May 2025, a 42‑year‑old man's appeal against his rape conviction was dismissed. The man had been found guilty in August 2023 of raping his then‑partner in Co. Galway on 17 November 2019, when the victim's baby was sleeping beside her. The conviction followed a jury verdict that the man had entered the bed, raped the woman, and left when the baby woke. The appeal argued that the victim was unreliable because of mental health issues and that the prosecution's use of three recorded phone conversations was unfair. Justice Isobel Kennedy rejected all four grounds, stating the recordings were highly probative and that the victim's mental health did not render her unreliable. She also dismissed the claim that the jury's separate verdicts on two counts were contradictory. The appeal was therefore dismissed, leaving the six‑year sentence in place.