Man who raped his young cousin has jail term reduced

A Clare man who sexually assaulted his younger cousin over a three-year period and raped her has had his six-year jail term reduced to four by the Court of Appeal.

The 27-year-old from Co Clare, who cannot be identified to protect the victim’s identity, pleaded guilty to one count of rape, four counts of sexual assault and four counts of oral rape on dates between 2003 and 2005. He was sentenced to nine years imprisonment with the final three years suspended by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court on June 4, 2013.

The Court of Appeal agreed yesterday with the man’s barrister, Paul Greene SC, that the sentencing judge took too severe a view of the man’s offending. Consequently the court imposed a new sentence on him of seven years imprisonment with the final three suspended.