English businessman appeals 14-year rape sentence

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

An English businessman has appealed against the severity of a 14-year prison sentence for the rape and sexual assault of two sisters. Two years were suspended on condition that he participated in the Better Lives treatment programme for sex offenders. The proceedings were reported on 7 October 2020.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the victims’ identities, was found guilty at the Central Criminal Court in April 2019 after a 42-day trial. He was convicted of three counts of rape and eight counts of sexual assault at addresses in Dublin and Louth between 3 December 2010 and 10 March 2011. The girls were aged 10 and 12 at the time. He continues to protest his innocence and dispute the verdict.

In March 2020, the Court of Appeal rejected his appeal against the convictions, including claims that specialist garda interviews of the girls were fundamentally flawed. At the sentence appeal on 7 October 2020, his counsel, Caroline Biggs SC, argued that sentencing judge Mr Justice Michael White had wrongly treated the conduct of his defence as an aggravating factor.

Ms Biggs argued that the sentence was disproportionate and overlooked mitigating factors. She said the suspended portion was unlikely to benefit her client because participation in Better Lives required a convicted person to accept guilt. She also said the offending had lasted months rather than decades and did not involve a father-daughter relationship.

Opposing the appeal, counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Dominic McGinn SC, argued that the manner in which the man conducted his defence added to the gravity of the offences. He said the man had instructed his legal team to put a damaging suggestion to a victim knowing it was untrue. The Court of Appeal, presided over by Mr Justice George Birmingham with Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy and Ms Justice Máire Whelan, reserved judgment.