Father-of-three has child-defilement sentence cut on appeal

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

A father-of-three had his child-defilement sentence cut to five years, with 12 months suspended, by the Court of Appeal on 13 October 2015.

He had pleaded guilty at Roscommon Circuit Criminal Court to six counts of defilement of a child and one count of sexually assaulting the girl. The appeal court found a clear error in how the original sentence had been structured.

The court imposed two consecutive two-and-a-half-year sentences and suspended the final year to encourage rehabilitation. He also entered a €100 bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour during the suspended period.