Man’s appeal against sexual assault convictions dismissed

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

The Court of Appeal dismissed an unnamed man’s appeal against his convictions for sexually assaulting his granddaughter. The judgment was delivered on 7 April 2022.

A jury convicted him of three counts of sexual assault under section 2 of the Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act 1990, as amended. The counts concerned dates between 1 July and 30 September 2015, 1 October and 31 December 2015, and 1 January and 31 May 2016.

The complainant said her grandfather touched her private parts during visits to his house. She described an incident when she thought her parents were at a friend’s wedding. Her mother was uncertain whether she stayed overnight at his house on the wedding date, 29 December 2015; his wife gave evidence that she did not.

The appeal included challenges to the absence of a corroboration warning and the refusal to withdraw the case where Gardaí had not taken a statement from a particular individual. The court found no real risk of an unfair trial arising from the missing statement and held that the trial judge was within his discretion in deciding not to give a warning.