The Court of Appeal increased Vicktors Zimants’s sentence from seven to nine years after finding that the original term was unduly lenient for serious sexual offences and false imprisonment.
In an ex tempore judgment delivered on 24 February 2017, the court substituted a nine-year prison sentence for the seven years imposed by the Central Criminal Court on 25 April 2016. The sentence was to run from the same date as the original sentence.
The Director of Public Prosecutions had asked the court to review the sentence under section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1993. The offences related to an incident on 17 November 2014 at an apartment in Abbey Street, Cahir. The judgment said the victim, identified as Ms D.B., returned to the apartment and was attacked in her bedroom by Zimants, whom she had not previously known.
The court described the offending as being at the high end of the range. It said the attack involved serious sexual offending in several forms and a shocking level of violence, including attempts to humiliate and degrade the victim. The judgment recounted evidence of repeated blows and serious injuries. A hospital doctor’s report described physical and sexual injuries consistent with the history of the alleged assault.
The sentencing judge had assessed the starting point as between 12 and 15 years, then identified 13 years as the sentence absent further reductions. The judge reduced that term to seven years, including a further reduction on account of Zimants’s status as a foreign national. The DPP argued that 13 years was already a lenient starting point and that the reduction was excessive.
The Court of Appeal agreed that 13 years was lenient. It nevertheless recognised the value of Zimants’s guilty plea, which avoided a trial and spared the victim from having to testify, potentially requiring travel from Lithuania. The court also noted that the prosecution case was strong, referring to DNA evidence, CCTV showing Zimants entering the apartment, and the victim’s injuries. It said the victim’s poor command of English was also a proper consideration in sentencing.
The court said a sentence below 10 years could not meet the case, and that 10 years would have been the minimum appropriate sentence. It reduced that figure to nine years to provide limited amelioration because Zimants was being resentenced and losing the release date associated with his previous sentence. The court also considered a prison report saying he was doing well in custody.