The Court of Appeal has dismissed a man’s appeal against the severity of a five-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy. The sentence also included three years of post-release supervision.
The appeal concerned a sexual assault conviction entered after a guilty plea. A count of attempted rape had been discontinued by a nolle prosequi. The court’s judgment, delivered by Ms Justice Kennedy on 26 February 2019, addressed the sentence only; it did not rehear the conviction.
The offence occurred on 6 November 2015 at the injured party’s family home, where the appellant was visiting. The judgment said the boy woke to find his pyjama bottoms and underwear pulled down and the appellant beside him under the blankets. The appellant tried to penetrate him but did not succeed. The boy ran to his mother, and semen recovered from swabs matched the appellant’s DNA profile.
The Court of Appeal described the offence as serious, citing the boy’s age and vulnerability, the appellant’s knowledge that he had previously been sexually abused, the breach of trust involved in offending as a guest in the family home, and the lasting impact on the boy. It upheld the sentencing judge’s six-year notional sentence and found the five-year headline sentence within the available range.
The appellant argued that the sentencing judge gave too little credit for his guilty plea and mitigation, placed undue weight on general deterrence, and should have suspended part of the term. The Court of Appeal noted that the plea was offered only days before the scheduled trial, around 20 months after the offence, when the evidence was strong. It found no error in the weight given to the plea.
The court also rejected the argument that the appellant’s status as a foreign national warranted a sentence reduction. It noted he had lived in Ireland since 1997, had become an Irish citizen, and had a wide circle of friends and support in the country. It found no error in the sentencing judge’s assessment of the circumstances, including the claim that the appellant had been intoxicated, or in the consideration of general deterrence.
The appeal was dismissed. The five-year prison term and three years of post-release supervision therefore remain unchanged.