The Court of Criminal Appeal has quashed the conviction and seven-year prison sentence of an apprentice carpenter for the rape of a female student in Waterford City.

While we hold very different views on appropriate sentencing for rapists, most agree on what the bottom line should be, discovers Conor Ryan.

A Wexford apprentice carpenter has been given a seven years sentence by Mr Justice Peter Charleton at the Central Criminal Court for raping a student near Waterford city centre before Christmas 2004.