The Court of Appeal reduced Martin Stokes’s sentence for rape and related offences against a 14-year-old girl, substituting a 10-year prison sentence with the final three years suspended. The court also ordered 18 months of post-release supervision and required a three-year bond after his release.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Sheehan on 3 March 2017, concerned offences committed during a single incident on 3 June 2011 at the Old Tuam Road, Monkland, Co Roscommon. Stokes was 20 and the girl was 14 at the time.
Following an 18-day trial, the Central Criminal Court had imposed a 12-year sentence, with the final two years suspended, for rape. A similar sentence was imposed for defilement of a child under 15. Two sexual assault convictions were also taken into consideration. Stokes appealed, arguing that the sentence was excessive and that the sentencing judge had given undue weight to his lies while insufficiently considering his personal circumstances and the circumstances of the offence.
The Court of Appeal said the girl’s age was the principal aggravating factor. It concluded that the sentencing judge had paid undue attention to Stokes’s lies, and that this had led to an error in setting a 12-year headline sentence. The appeal court set the proper starting point at 10 years.
The court also considered that the case took four years to come to trial. It said the delay was grossly unfair to the victim and also unfair to Stokes, whose life had been on hold after his arrest. Taking the delay, Stokes’s age at the time of the offence and the need to encourage rehabilitation into account, the court suspended the final three years of the substituted sentence. The suspension was conditional on a bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for three years after release.
The respondent had argued that the original sentence should stand, citing the consequences for the girl, including disruption to her secondary education and her family’s move from the area. Those points were submissions to the appeal court; the court’s order was to substitute the sentence and impose the supervision and bond conditions described.