The Court of Appeal has reduced the sentence of a man convicted of five counts of child sexual abuse, quashing the Circuit Court sentences and substituting an effective prison term of four years and eight months.
The court delivered its judgment on 30 March 2023. The appeal concerned sentence only: an earlier appeal against conviction had been dismissed. The offending took place over two periods spanning about eight years, when the complainant was aged three to five and then 10 to 12. The court said the appellant was the complainant’s uncle by marriage.
The Circuit Court had imposed a total sentence of seven years and two months, with the final 20 months suspended, leaving five years and six months to serve. On appeal, the appellant argued that the sentences were excessive and that the sentencing judge had not properly explained consecutive sentences or addressed totality.
The Court of Appeal said consecutive sentences had a role in the case and that the sentencing judge had addressed totality. But it concluded that the offences should have been sentenced in two blocks, reflecting the distinct periods of offending. It also noted doubt about whether count one, considered alone, crossed the custody threshold.
The appeal court imposed six months on count one, 22 months on count two and eight months on count three, all concurrent. For counts four and five, it retained the Circuit Court terms of 16 months and four years and six months, also concurrent with each other. Those later-period sentences run consecutively to the earlier-period sentences.
The resulting aggregate sentence is six years and four months. The court suspended the final 20 months, leaving four years and eight months to be served. The suspension is conditional on the appellant keeping the peace and being of good behaviour towards all the people of Ireland during custody and for 20 months after release. The court also ordered 21 months of post-release supervision by the Probation Service.
In resentencing, the court said it had considered up-to-date information placed before it.