The Supreme Court has reinstated a 10-year jail sentence for a man for raping his wife, which had been cut to eight and a half years.

The rape happened in May 2014 when the man forced his wife upstairs at knifepoint following a row occurred in their kitchen.

On 25 May 2014, a row occurred in the couple's kitchen.

The husband produced a knife and threatened his wife that he would “cut open” her face then ordered her upstairs and raped her.

She pretended reconciliation, left the next morning and sought court protection.

He threatened to kill her the next day and, over several days, threatened her several times.

Later, at her mother's home, he produced a hammer, hit the woman several times on the head and attacked her mother.

He was later arrested.

The man was convicted and received 10 years in prison; however, the Court of Appeal reduced the overall sentence to eight years and six months.

The DPP appealed this to the Supreme Court, arguing the Court of Appeal had made an error in apparently regarding the rape as an offence “in isolation” rather than part of a pattern of behaviour.

Today, the five-judge court said no error in the trial judge’s sentencing had been identified and the original sentence should be restored.

Reporting from Shane Beatty