The Court of Appeal has upheld a 10-year prison sentence imposed on former priest Peter Kennedy for indecent assaults on 18 complainants over a period stretching from 1968 to 1986.
Kennedy had pleaded guilty to 27 counts of indecent assault. With one exception, the complainants were schoolboys. Some were related to him, while others came into contact with him through families he knew while serving as a priest in parishes around the country.
Victim impact reports described long-lasting consequences. The court heard that men abused as teenagers were still experiencing difficulties decades later, including problems forming relationships, parenting and bonding with their own children.
At sentencing in July 2013, the Circuit Court imposed 10 years on one count and took all remaining counts into consideration. The term was backdated to December 26, 2011.
Kennedy challenged that approach, arguing that the judge had used an overly global sentence and had not sufficiently reflected mitigation. He also relied on his age — 74 at sentencing — and the fact that there had been no further offending since 1986.
The Court of Appeal accepted that a more detailed count-by-count sentencing structure might have been preferable. However, it held that there was nothing inherently wrong with identifying an overall appropriate sentence, particularly where separate sentencing on 27 counts could have raised the prospect of consecutive terms and an even longer aggregate sentence.
The court also found that Kennedy's age and lengthy period without offending had been expressly considered by the sentencing judge. That judge had accepted that Kennedy appeared to have reformed and was no longer a significant threat to society.
Against that mitigation stood the scale and duration of the offending, involving 18 complainants over 18 years and profound continuing harm.
The Court of Appeal held that the 10-year sentence was well within the available range and dismissed the appeal.