Man has rape sentence reduced on appeal

A 62-year-old man who raped a baby-sitter nearly 30 years ago has succeeded in having his 11-year sentence reduced by four years on appeal.

John Gerard Regan (aged 62) of Cloonfad, Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo was jailed for 11 years in April 2008 after a Central Criminal Court jury found him guilty of raping the now 38-year-old woman on a date in 1982 and on three charges of indecently assaulting her on dates between 1979 and 1984.

Regan had pleaded not guilty to one charge of raping the woman and 29 charges of indecent assault. Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins withdrew 26 of the charges from the jury at the beginning of the trial. The victim asked for Regan to be named in media reports of the case.

Counsel for the applicant, Mr Patrick Martin Giblin SC, today told the Court of Criminal Appeal that the trial judge had erred in principle by imposing an 11-year sentence on Regan.

He said that Judge had failed to take in to account that the offending had taken place over a relatively short period of the applicant’s life and that he had no previous or subsequent convictions.

Mr Giblin said that Mr Justice O’Higgins had failed to attach sufficient weight to the passage of time between the offence and the charges brought against Regan and the fact that the applicant had led a productive and successful life in the interim.

Counsel for the State, Mr Anthony Sammon SC, told the court that the trial judge had been addressed directly on the issue of the delay between the committal of the offences and the charges brought against Regan.

He said that the court should have regard to the fact that Regan had perpetrated “very gross” offences and that the victim was just seven years old when first assaulted.

Presiding judge Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman said the most significant factor in mitigation was that in the long period since the committal of the offence the applicant had built up a successful family business and had not reoffended.

He said the court noted that the applicant was 62 years old and that Irish prisons were often ill-equipped to deal with the needs of older offenders.

Mr Justice Hardiman, sitting with Mr Justice Declan Budd and Mr Justice Michael Moriarty, said the court would substitute the 11-year sentence imposed on Regan for rape with one of seven years with one year suspended.

He said the court would also substitute a concurrent seven-year term imposed for indecent assault with one of seven years with one year suspended.

Mr Justice Hardiman said the court would not interfere with the concurrent two- and six-year sentences imposed on the remaining indecent assault counts or with the inclusion of the applicant on the sex offenders' register.