The Court of Appeal has set aside an 11-year sentence, with the final two years suspended, imposed on a man who pleaded guilty to offences including sexually assaulting his daughter and recording sexualised images of her. The court said it would impose a replacement sentence in due course, subject to any further submissions from the parties.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Mahon on 23 October 2015, concerned an appeal against the severity of sentence. The appellant, identified as J. D., pleaded guilty on 22 March 2013 to 19 offences of sexual assault, possession of child pornography and allowing a child to be used to produce pornography. On 1 July 2013, the sentencing court imposed the 11-year term on the first sexual assault count and took the other counts into consideration. It also ordered his indefinite placement on the sex offenders register.
The victim was the appellant’s daughter, who was 13 or 14 during the offending. The judgment said the offences occurred over about 12 months, from April 2010 to April 2011. The appellant’s wife discovered pornographic photographs of the girl on a digital camera in the family home in April 2011. A search found further images on computer storage devices and a room in the attic containing sexualised costumes. Investigators found 1,150 still images and 74 movie images focused on the girl’s genital area; some also depicted the appellant.
The Court of Appeal described the offending as extremely serious, citing the breach of trust, its prolonged, repetitive and planned nature, and the photographing and recording of the abuse. It identified a limited error of principle: the 11-year sentence, despite the suspended portion, indicated that the sentencing judge had placed the offending at the very highest level of gravity, while the appeal court agreed it fell short of that level. The court nevertheless said the offending required a significant custodial sentence.
The court did not specify a replacement sentence in this judgment. It set aside the original sentence and reserved the new sentence for a later stage, subject to further submissions. The judgment therefore records no final substituted sentence.