MM loses appeal against sexual assault convictions

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The Court of Appeal dismissed MM's appeal against conviction on all grounds on 3 May 2016. Mr. Justice Mahon delivered the judgment, which concerned the conviction appeal only. MM had also appealed against his sentence.

On 7 May 2014, MM was convicted at Carlow Circuit Criminal Court of 25 counts of sexual assault, one count of attempted buggery of a person under 17 and one count of buggery of a person under 17. The guilty verdicts concerned one twin, identified as A. The jury returned a not guilty verdict in respect of the second twin, B.

On 8 May 2014, he received four-year prison terms on six counts, with other counts taken into consideration. Concurrent and consecutive terms produced an effective eight-year sentence, with no portion suspended. He was also made subject to a one-year post-release supervision order and indefinite registration on the Sex Offenders Register.

The offences were alleged to have occurred in or around the twins' family home and farm, where MM worked as a labourer, between February 1991 and February 1999. The judgment recorded a three-year gap between 1994 and 1997 when no assaults occurred. It also recorded that the offending involved no threats or violence and that further consensual sexual activity took place in 2004, after A reached adulthood.

MM challenged the evidence placing offences within the charged periods, the adequacy of the delay warning and the absence of a corroboration warning. The court found the dating particulars sufficient. It held that any insufficiency in the initial delay warning was adequately addressed later and that a corroboration warning was unnecessary and might have been inappropriate.