Court of Appeal dismisses man’s challenge to rape convictions

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

The Court of Appeal dismissed a man’s appeal against his conviction on two counts of raping his wife, finding it was not persuaded that the trial was unfair or unsatisfactory or that the verdicts were unsafe. The court said the jury’s verdicts appeared well justified in the overall context of the case.

The appeal focused on whether the trial judge should have given the jury a warning about corroboration. The court said there was evidence capable of corroborating the offences for which the man was convicted. The man had maintained that their sexual relations were consensual.

The convictions concerned events at the couple’s home on the night of December 18 into December 19, 2015. The man had been sentenced to nine years in prison in July 2018; the appeal judgment addressed the conviction only.