CCA reduces sentence of Georgian man jailed for rape

The Court of Criminal Appeal has reduced the prison sentence imposed on a Georgian man jailed for raping a Polish woman on her second night in Ireland from 10 to eight years.

Today the CCA, who rejected an appeal against conviction, suspended the final two years of the ten year sentence imposed on Vasile Vardoshilli (aged 38) on grounds including that the victim had asked that he not receive a lengthy sentence for the sake of his wife and family.

In 2007 Vardoshilli a Georgian national, married with three children, Greenville Place, Cork, was found guilty by a jury of raping, falsely imprisoning and assaulting the now 27-year-old woman in Killarney in August 2004.

He was jailed for 10 years by Mr Justice Barry White at the Central Criminal Court.

Vardoshilli always asserted that the incident was consensual. He appealed against both his conviction and the severity of the sentence imposed on him. The DPP opposed both appeals.

Today the three judge court of Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan presiding, sitting with Mr Justice Eamonn De Valera and Mr Justice Michael Hanna rejected Vardoshilli's appeal against his conviction.

Mr Justice Finnegan said that this was a serious offence committed against a vulnerable woman.

However the CCA agreed with Mr O'Leary's argument that the 10-year sentence was unduly severe.

In reducing the sentence on conditions Mr Justice Finnegan said that the court was taking into account that as a foreign national Vardoshilli would have problems in prison due to language difficulties and cultural differences.

The court was also taking into account that in the victim's impact report she had expressed a wish that her rapist not be imprisoned for a long period for the sake of his wife and children.