Unnamed man jailed for sexual assault of five-year-old boy

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

A man who cannot be named for legal reasons was jailed for sexual assault at the Court of Criminal Appeal on 25 November 2013, after his sentence was increased to five years with two suspended. The proceedings were reported on 25 November 2013.

He had originally been jailed for two years by Judge John O’Hagan at Monaghan Circuit Criminal Court in January 2013 after pleading guilty to four counts of sexual assault at his mother’s Monaghan home on various dates in 2011. The victim was a five-year-old boy in the care of the man’s mother, who was a child minder.

The Director of Public Prosecutions successfully appealed, with Mr Frank Martin BL arguing that the sentence was unduly lenient. Mr Anthony Sammon SC argued that it was lenient but not unduly so, and asked the court to consider the man’s total confession, remorse, guilty plea and cooperation with the investigation. He also referred to the man’s account of having been sexually abused as a child.

Mr Justice Nial Fennelly said the two-year sentence was unduly lenient and that the offence was mid-range. The court imposed five years’ imprisonment, suspending the final two years on condition that the man submit to probation-service supervision upon release.