Court of Appeal quashes father’s sexual assault conviction

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

The Court of Appeal quashed a father’s conviction for sexually assaulting his daughter after finding that the jury needed more assistance with evidence about whether he was awake at the time. The proceedings were reported on 18 May 2022.

The man had pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the girl at their Dublin home on an occasion between 1 January and 30 April 2017. A jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court found him guilty following a trial in May 2021.

He was sentenced to three years and four months’ imprisonment, with the final four months suspended on terms. He appealed the conviction.

The defence denied that an assault took place and argued alternatively that, if the alleged touching happened, the man was asleep. The prosecution submitted that an interview account of a conversation immediately after the incident supported a finding that he was awake. Defence counsel Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC said the complainant had said under cross-examination that the conversation occurred the next morning.

Delivering judgment, Court of Appeal President Mr Justice George Birmingham held that the jury needed additional help with the evidence on whether the man was awake or asleep. The court found the verdict unsafe because the trial judge had not specifically drawn the jury’s attention to that evidence. It rejected the other grounds of challenge, including those concerning the sister’s cross-examination, corroboration and jury directions.

This report covers an earlier stage of the case. Later developments are not reported here.