The Court of Criminal Appeal has upheld a 9 year sentence imposed on a sexual offender previously described by a judge as a 'skilful and careful predator'.
The 46-year-old man pleaded guilty to sexually abusing his daughter, his cousin and young sister-in-law on dates between 1986 and 2003.
In October 2010 he was given a 9 year sentence with 3 years suspended at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court by Judge Patrick McCartan who made the predator comment.
On that occasion, the judge told the man he had watched him as his daughter got into the witness box to read her 'heartrending' victim impact statement and noted 'there was not a flicker of reaction'.
The man began sexually abusing his daughter in 1998 when she was 9-years-old and the abuse continued for the next 5 years, mostly at the family home.
Prior to this, he had sexually abused his sister-in-law when she was 10-years-old when he visited her home at Christmas. He also abused a male cousin when he was 7-years-old and had just suffered a significant bereavement.
'Grossest breach of trust'
He pleaded guilty to the abuse on the morning of his trial. Today the man, who cannot be named to protect his victims, appealed against the severity of his 9 year sentence.
His barrister Michael O'Higgins SC argued that Judge McCartan had erred in principle by failing to give due weight to his client's guilty plea and to positive reports from the Granada Institute as to his low risk of re-offending following 2 years of therapy.
Mr. O'Higgins claimed that the judge put too much weight on extraneous material including an allegation that he had refused to leave home once an abuse claim was made, forcing the rest of the family to leave instead.
He argued the sentencing judge did not fully factor in how the man's offending had ended his distinguished career.
In reply, Paul Carroll BL for the DPP argued that the maximum sentence for this type of offending is 14 years, and that 9 years with 3 years suspended is appropriate in circumstances where the man had abused his daughter on average every 3 weeks over a 5 year period.
The Court of Criminal Appeal has dismissed the appeal and upheld Judge McCartan's sentence for what it has described as 'very serious offences' involving the 'grossest possible breach of trust'.
