The Court of Appeal has dismissed D. McG’s appeal against his convictions on 17 counts of rape and sexual assault, finding that the challenged evidence did not render his trial unfair.
A jury at the Central Criminal Court unanimously convicted him on 3 June 2016. He received concurrent prison terms ranging from five to 12 years, with five years of post-release supervision. The appeal concerned the convictions.
The first ground challenged evidence from the complainant, her mother, grandmother and older sister about a family discussion in 2005. The complainant said D. McG had acknowledged doing “some of the small things, none of the big things”. The other witnesses gave differing accounts of what he admitted. D. McG denied the allegations when questioned by gardaí, but said he had touched the complainant’s breasts while tickling her.
The appeal argued that the jury may have understood the disputed statements as an admission to all the allegations, although it was unclear what had been put to him during the discussion. The Court of Appeal concluded that the trial judge had properly exercised her discretion to admit the evidence and had reasonably summarised it for the jury. It dismissed that ground, holding that the evidence did not make the trial unfair.
The second ground concerned questions and answers in a Garda interview. The defence argued that the exchange suggested D. McG had to explain why the complainant made allegations. The trial judge admitted the passage, saying the jury would be told that a person in custody had no obligation to answer questions. The appeal court found the questions were not particularly prejudicial and that the judge’s directions meant their admission caused no unfairness. It dismissed that ground as well.
With neither ground succeeding, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. The judgment addresses the challenged evidence and interview passage; it does not set out any new sentence or order altering the original sentence.