Court of Appeal reserves judgment on gang rape sentence appeals

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

The Court of Appeal reserved judgment on sentence appeals by Dion Genockey, Daryl Rooney and Troy Ryan, whose lawyers argued that they should have received shorter terms because of their youth at the time of the offence. The appeals were heard on May 8, 2026.

The three men were convicted of raping a vulnerable 18-year-old woman at Bull Island, Dollymount, Dublin, on January 5, 2016. Their convictions followed a second trial at the Central Criminal Court in March 2022; a jury at their first trial in 2020 had been unable to reach a verdict. All three denied the charges and maintained their innocence.

Judge David Keane sentenced Genockey to nine years, Rooney to 10 years and Ryan to nine and a half years in prison. He also said each man should undergo two years of post-release supervision.

Genockey and Rooney had previously appealed against their convictions, raising arguments about consent. The Court of Appeal rejected those appeals on November 13, 2025, finding their trial had been appropriate, fair and balanced.

At the sentence appeal, Genockey’s counsel argued that the starting sentence was too high and the reduction for mitigating factors was inadequate. Rooney’s counsel argued that the judge should have considered suspending part of his sentence, while Ryan’s counsel also challenged the sentence calculation. Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions urged the court to refuse the appeals, arguing that the judge had given the maximum discount for immaturity and that there was no evidential basis for suspending any part of the sentences.