Rapist appeal dismissed

An appeal brought by Co Kerry man against his conviction for raping a woman he met in the early hours of the morning outside a disco has been dismissed by the Court of Criminal Appeal.

James Cronin (aged 25), Freemount, Rathmore, Co Kerry, was found guilty by a jury in March 2006 of falsely imprisoning and raping the now 29-year-old woman on October 31, 2004 in his van in a car park in a Co Kerry town.

Mr Justice Henry Abbott at the Central Criminal Court, who directed that he be registered as a sex offender, imposed an eight-year sentence for the rape and a concurrent three-month sentence for false imprisonment.

Cronin appealed his conviction, on the grounds that the jury had been improperly charged by the trial judge.

However today that appeal was dismissed by the three-judge CCA, comprising of Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan, presiding sitting with Mr Justice Declan Budd and Mr Justice Paul Gilligan.

The court said that the judge had given the jury a "model warning" and was satisfied that the conviction should stand.