Court of Appeal dismisses man’s appeal against stepdaughter’s rape and sexual assault convictions

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

The Court of Appeal has dismissed all five grounds raised by a man convicted of raping and sexually abusing his stepdaughter, upholding the convictions. He was convicted in the Central Criminal Court in January 2017 of 17 sexual assault counts and 16 rape counts relating to one victim. The abuse began when she was about 12, according to the appeal judgment summary.

The appeal challenged trial rulings on redactions to his interview, evidence about alleged recent fabrication, testimony from the victim’s friend, and the jury directions on that testimony. The appeal court found no error warranting a reversal, including that the redactions did not affect the trial’s overall fairness and that the friend’s evidence was properly admitted for its limited purposes.