The Court of Appeal has set aside concurrent two-year prison sentences imposed on James Maher for 19 indecent assaults against two boys in County Clare in the early 1980s, finding that the sentences were unduly lenient. The court gave Maher an opportunity to provide up-to-date material relevant to sentence; it did not impose replacement sentences in this judgment.
The Director of Public Prosecutions brought the appeal under section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1993, arguing that the sentences were inadequate. Maher had pleaded guilty to five counts involving one injured party and 14 involving another. The offences against the first boy took place during 1984; those against the second occurred between January 1982 and March 1984.
The sentencing judge imposed two years on each count in January 2013, with all sentences concurrent. He believed two years was the maximum available for each offence. The Court of Appeal agreed that the applicable maximum for indecent assault on a male at the time was two years, rejecting the Director’s argument that it was 10 years. It held that a 1981 law increasing the maximum for indecent assault on females did not also increase the penalty for assaults on males.
The appeal court said the offences involved repeated abuse of young victims, grooming, deception and breaches of trust. It considered the lasting psychological harm described by the victims, including attempts on their lives and serious mental health consequences. The court also recognised mitigating factors, including Maher’s guilty pleas, which spared the victims the ordeal of a contested trial.
The court said the sentencing judge was entitled to make sentences concurrent. But it concluded that the overall sentences were clearly inadequate and unjustifiable given the gravity of the crimes and their aggravating features. It set them aside under the undue-leniency review. The court said it would allow Maher to submit relevant current material for the next sentencing stage.