Teenager’s sexual assault appeal dismissed by Supreme Court

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

The Supreme Court dismissed an unnamed teenager’s sexual assault appeal in a 3-2 decision. The proceedings were reported on 23 May 2022.

The teenager had been convicted by a jury of one count of sexual assault at the Central Criminal Court after a 2020 trial over an incident in 2019 involving a six-year-old child. The teenager was 14 at the time.

The majority held that sexual assault is an objective offence and that sexual motive need not be proved when an assault occurs in indecent circumstances. Two judges dissented, saying the conviction should have been set aside and an assault conviction substituted. In his dissent, Mr Justice Gerard Hogan noted that it had been accepted that there was no sexual element to the teenager’s conduct.

The report says the offence was dealt with by a community sanction and supervision by the Probation Service until 2023.