Mentally ill Corkman fails in sex abuse sentence appeal

A mentally ill Corkman has today failed in an appeal against his three-year sentence for sexually abusing his eight-year-old niece nearly 20 years ago.

In March last year, the now 40-year-old man pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to one count of oral rape and two counts of sexual assault on the girl at his family home in Cork between November 1992 and November 1993.

The court heard that at the time of the offence the man was “acutely psychotic” but that his condition had now stabilised due to the administration of a high dosage of anti-psychotic medication.

The Court of Criminal appeal this afternoon said it would not interfere in the three-year sentence imposed, having found it was not a significant departure from the sentencing norm and did amount to an error in principle.

Counsel for the applicant, Mr Padraig Dwyer SC, said that the man had diminished moral responsibility for the offences and under his current medical regime represented “no threat to society whatsoever”.

He asked the court to have regard to the fact the man had no previous convictions, had been “hugely cooperative” with gardaí and had pleaded guilty to the offences 17 years after committing them.

Ms Anne Rowland BL, for the State, said that the sentencing judge had careful regard both to the applicant’s mental health difficulties and the aggravating factors in the case.

She said there was no error in principle as the judge had regard to breach of trust involved and evidence that the victim in the case did not appear to have “closure”.