First defendant's rape appeal dismissed by Court of Appeal

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

The unnamed first defendant's rape conviction was affirmed and his appeal dismissed by the Court of Appeal in a judgment issued on 8 April 2022.

The conviction arose from a 2017 rape at an address in a town in the west of Ireland, followed by a Central Criminal Court trial in November 2019 and a seven-year sentence.

The Court of Appeal rejected his arguments that the trial judge had failed to distinguish his case from that of the co-defendant and should have issued a corroboration warning.

The court said the question of separate trials had not been raised and that the trial judge was not obliged to give such a warning.