The Court of Appeal partly allowed Thomas Walsh’s appeal against his sentence for sexual assault, finding that the sentencing judge should have given additional credit for his substantial, though not complete, previous good character. It left the seven-year headline sentence and the discount for his late guilty plea unchanged, but suspended a further year on conditions.
Walsh had pleaded guilty on 18 November 2015, after his trial had begun the previous day. He was sentenced on 12 July 2016 to six years in prison, with none suspended, and appealed on the basis that the sentence was unduly severe.
The offence occurred in a flat in a town in County Galway on 13 January 2014. The judgment says the complainant had been drinking and fell asleep on a sofa. She later awoke to find Walsh between her legs and discovered she had been undressed from the waist down. A witness told Gardaí that he saw Walsh remove her clothes while she slept and sexually assault her. The complainant described lasting effects in a victim impact statement, including difficulty with intimacy and taking leave from work.
Walsh argued that the assault was a one-off, brief and unpremeditated, and that the sentencing judge had placed it too high on the scale of seriousness. The Court of Appeal rejected that ground. It accepted that the assault was not premeditated, but said it began while the complainant was asleep and intoxicated, involved her being undressed and sexually touched, and was carried out in the presence of a third party. The court also referred to the complainant’s significant trauma. It held that the sentencing judge acted within his discretion in placing the offence at the lower end of the high range; the seven-year headline sentence was severe but not an error of principle.
The appeal court also rejected the challenge to the approximately 15% reduction for Walsh’s guilty plea, which came after the trial had opened. It found, however, that the sentencing judge had erred by giving no additional discount for Walsh’s substantial previous good character. The court noted that his five previous convictions arose from two incidents.
The court quashed the original sentence and resentenced Walsh. It retained the seven-year headline sentence and the 12-month reduction for the guilty plea, leaving six years. It then suspended one year of that remaining term, so five years remained to be served in prison and one year was suspended for three years from his release. Conditions include entering a €100 bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour, engaging with the Probation Service after release, and following its recommendations during the suspension period.