DPP fails to get term for incest increased

THE Court of Criminal Appeal has dismissed an application by the DPP to increase the three and a half year sentence imposed on a man who had sex with his teenage daughter on a regular basis.

Earlier this year the man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to six sample charges between October 2005 and January 2007.

He admitted two charges each of incest, rape and defilement of a child under 15 years of age. The abuse took place at the family home when the girl was aged between 12 and 14 years old.

At the Central Criminal Court Mr Justice Paul Carney imposed concurrent three-and-a-half-year terms on each offence and directed that the man undergo three years’ post-release supervision.

The DPP appealed the sentence on the grounds that it was unduly lenient.

Yesterday the three judge Court of Criminal Appeal with Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns presiding sitting with Mr Justice Declan Budd and Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne dismissed the DPP’s appeal.

The appeal, by Anne Rowland BL, was brought on grounds including that the trial judge had failed to take into the gravity of the offences for which the maximum sentence is life, or the effect that they had on the victim.

It was further argued that the victim’s age was not taken into account, and excessive weight was given by the judge to the fact the victim had forgave her father.

Ms Rowland argued that the girl never actual forgive him, but rather said in her victim impact statement that she didn’t hate him anymore.

Opposing the appeal, Patrick Gageby SC for the man, a foreign national who has been running a business in Ireland for many years, said the sentence should stand, and the DPP was seeking a higher sentence than what it had sought when the matter was before Mr Justice Carney.

Giving Judgment Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns said the court could not say that the sentence imposed by Mr Justice Carney was “a significant departure from what was appropriate in the circumstances”.

The court said the judge had correctly taken into account mitigating factors including that the man had pleaded guilty at an early stage, after the girl told her teachers what was going on, that he had no previous convictions, and the effects the incidents had on the entire family.

In addition the court said that there was no evidence that the victim had suffered lasting severe psychological trauma from what had happened to her.

She added counselling had helped.