Man has final year of child defilement sentence suspended

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Court of Appeal suspended the final 12 months of a man's eight-year sentence for child defilement on 26 May 2017.

He pleaded guilty at an early stage.

On 4 December 2015, the Circuit Court in Naas imposed concurrent sentences of eight years, seven years and seven years for three counts of defilement of a child under 15, and six years for sexual assault of a child. The effective sentence was eight years.

The offences occurred at his home in Monasterevin. Two defilement offences occurred between 21 and 23 January 2014; the third occurred between 21 January and 1 February 2014. The sexual assault occurred between 31 January and 1 February 2014.

The appeal court found that the early plea was significant and should have been specifically addressed in the sentence. It suspended the final year for three years after his release, conditional on his entering a bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour and following Probation Service directions during that period.

The three years of post-release supervision imposed by the Circuit Court judge remained in place. Mr Justice Birmingham delivered the appeal judgment.