Tamas Vecernyes has rape sentence reduced to eight years with three suspended

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

Tamas Vecernyes had his rape sentence reduced to eight years, with three suspended, by the Court of Appeal on 6 December 2016. The proceedings were reported on 6 December 2016.

He had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court. The charge concerned rape at an apartment in Cork on 9 September 2009. A jury found him guilty. Mr Justice Paul Carney sentenced him to 11 years in prison, with the final three suspended, on 26 November 2012.

Giving judgment, Mr Justice John Edwards, sitting with Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan and Mr Justice Paul Butler, said the sentencing judge had placed the offence too far along the scale of seriousness. The court quashed the original sentence.

The court found the 11-year headline sentence unusual compared with other rape offences without premeditation or additional violence beyond that associated with every rape. Mr Justice John Edwards acknowledged the aggravating factors: the rape occurred in the woman’s own bedroom and took advantage of her vulnerable drunken state. He said the degree of aggravation was less than if it had occurred during a burglary.

Defence barrister Hugh Hartnett SC submitted that the sentencing judge had wrongly assessed the offence’s gravity at the high end and failed to account for Vecernyes having no previous convictions or prison being more difficult for him as a foreign national. He also argued that the sentence was excessive compared with other cases.

Mr Justice John Edwards said a positive letter from prison authorities described Vecernyes as a model prisoner trying to better himself. The report said he had helped raise money for charity in prison. Because he was doing well in prison, the court retained the three-year suspension when imposing the eight-year sentence.