The Court of Criminal Appeal has rejected a former remedial teacher’s appeal against convictions for raping and sexually assaulting an 11-year-old pupil at a school in the Cork area.
D.O’S. was tried at the Central Criminal Court in 2001 on three counts of rape and four counts of sexual assault relating to D.C., who attended remedial classes with him between September 1997 and February 1998.
A jury acquitted him on one rape count. It convicted him by majority verdicts on the remaining two rape charges and four sexual assault charges. He received concurrent sentences of ten years for each rape conviction and four years for each sexual assault conviction.
Central to the appeal was evidence from two other former pupils, P.B. and J.M. They alleged that while they were seated doing schoolwork, D.O’S. stood behind them and rubbed his penis against their backs. D.O’S. denied their allegations as well as those made by D.C.
The defence argued that the evidence of the two boys should never have been admitted because there were significant differences between their accounts and D.C.’s allegations. It also relied on the fact that D.O’S. was later acquitted when separately tried on charges involving those pupils.
The appeal court rejected those arguments. It held that the location, timing and unusual manner of the alleged conduct were sufficiently similar to give the evidence substantial probative value. The differences in detail did not outweigh that value and could be assessed by the jury.
The court also rejected complaints about the trial judge’s directions on reasonable doubt, corroboration, the defence case and comments concerning an alleged conspiracy between the boys. It found that the charge to the jury was fair overall.
The convictions therefore remain in place. The court did not determine D.O’S.’s separate challenge to the severity of his sentence in this judgment and said it would hear counsel on that issue later.