The Court of Appeal dismissed J.C.’s appeal against conviction after rejecting challenges to the decision to try the charges together, the trial judge’s summing up and the treatment of delay.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Sheehan on 14 November 2015, concerned only the conviction appeal. J.C. had been convicted by a jury on 10 counts of indecent assault and three counts of sexual assault following a six-day trial in February 2013. The sentence was 10 years’ imprisonment, with the final two years suspended; the sentence was not at issue in this judgment.
The charges concerned six complainants. Ten counts related to allegations involving the younger sister and nieces of J.C.’s former wife between 1988 and 1992. The other three concerned allegations by his son and daughter, said to have occurred between 2001 and 2011. The allegations were not findings made by the Court of Appeal in this judgment.
J.C. argued that the trial judge should have separated the charges, including by dividing them into the two time periods. The Court said the judge had discretion in deciding whether to order separate trials and found the similarities between the allegations sufficient to allow the jury to consider evidence in one case as support for another. It also noted evidence about a claimed admission concerning one complainant that the prosecution said was relevant across the counts. The Court held that the judge had properly exercised his discretion and rejected this ground of appeal.
The remaining grounds concerned whether the jury had been adequately directed on the defence case and inconsistencies raised in cross-examination, and whether the warning about delay was properly related to the case. The Court found the judge’s summary sufficient in light of the closing speeches, and said the judge had addressed the effect of delay in a case involving multiple complaints. It concluded that the jury had been properly charged and that no unfairness resulted.
The Court dismissed the appeal against conviction. It made no decision on the appeal against sentence in this judgment.