Unidentified man wins Supreme Court ruling on child sex offence law

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

An unidentified man won a Supreme Court ruling on the child sex offence law on 28 August 2023, when the court dismissed the State’s appeal and upheld the finding that the balance-of-probabilities burden was unconstitutional.

The seven-judge court held unanimously that the provision requiring an accused to prove reasonable mistake about a complainant’s age on that standard must be struck down. The ruling concerned the standard of proof for that defence; the court said the rest of the legislation remained capable of operation and the provision concerning offences against younger children was unaffected.

The case arose from a challenge by a serving prisoner previously convicted by a jury under the 2006 Act. His appeal against that conviction remained pending before the Court of Appeal, according to RTÉ.