Rape sentences - Judges under spotlight over inconsistency

THE inconsistency of judicial sentencing is again put under the spotlight by contrasting sentences handed down this week for rape, one of the most heinous of all crimes.

In contrast with the 15-year jail term imposed by Mr Justice Paul Carney on a man for raping a 75-year-old woman on Monday, another rapist walked free from the Central Criminal Court in Dublin when he received a three-year suspended sentence from the same judge for raping a woman in her home while she slept.

In a rare public display of anger the second victim went public last night to vent her outrage at the verdict.

While the 15-year sentence was widely regarded as proportionate to the crime, that cannot be said of the suspended sentence, which was described by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre as unacceptable. When women who have been raped end up feeling as the victims, is it any wonder fewer come forward and that Ireland has one of the lowest conviction rates for this appalling crime?