Wicklow man jailed for seven years after rape conviction

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

A Wicklow man was jailed for seven years for rape at the Central Criminal Court. The proceedings were reported on 14 November 2019. The offences occurred in Co Wicklow between 1987 and 1989. The man was 17 and the victim was approximately nine when the abuse began.

He had pleaded not guilty to four counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault. A jury convicted him after a trial in March 2019. The victim gave evidence six times during the legal process, and Mr Justice Michael White praised her courage at sentencing in May 2019.

The judge set an 11-year headline sentence before reducing it to seven years, taking account of the offender’s constructive and exemplary life since the offending. Defence counsel John Fitzgerald SC said the offence happened while the man was himself a child.