The Court of Appeal has upheld M.U.'s convictions for two sexual assaults on his teenage stepdaughter in Tipperary but reduced the overall prison term imposed by the Circuit Criminal Court.
M.U. was convicted in Clonmel in March 2020 of two sexual assaults and acquitted of a third. The complainant was about 15 at the time of the first incident. She told the jury that M.U., her mother's partner, put his hand under her clothing and fondled her breasts while her mother slept beside her. A second incident occurred in 2016 after the complainant returned home with M.U. from buying alcohol. She said she later woke to find him again fondling her breasts in bed.
On conviction, M.U. received five years with 18 months suspended on the first count and five years with three years suspended on the second, to run consecutively.
His conviction appeal ultimately focused on two issues. First, he challenged the admission of evidence from the complainant's older sister describing separate inappropriate conduct by M.U. involving an interest in her breasts. The Court of Appeal held that the evidence was relevant both to the defence claim that the complainant had fabricated allegations out of a grudge and to explaining the family dynamic.
Second, M.U. argued that the trial judge should have warned the jury about the absence of corroboration. The appeal court held that such a warning was discretionary and that the judge was entitled not to give one.
The conviction appeal was therefore dismissed.
The court did, however, find the original sentence excessive. It regarded the offending as mid-range because of the breach of trust, the family-home setting and the fact that M.U. offended again after being confronted about the first incident.
It substituted two years for the first offence and three and a half years for the second, both to run concurrently and from the same date as the Circuit Court sentences.