Courts

Appeal against five-year sentence for rape of woman sleeping in sister’s house fails

Court of Appeal finds no reason to overturn conviction for ‘callous crime’ committed at house party where judge said victim was entitled to expect security

The man (30), had pleaded not guilty to the charge of rape at a location in Co Kildare in June 2015.

Fri Nov 4 2022 - 13:33

A man who was jailed for five years for raping a sleeping woman during a house party has failed in a bid to have his conviction overturned at the Court of Appeal.

The man (30), had pleaded not guilty to the charge of rape at a location in Co Kildare in June 2015. Following a week-long trial at the Central Criminal Court in November 2019, a jury of five women and seven men returned a verdict of guilty.

In July 2020, the man was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment by Mr Justice Michael White.

The trial heard that on the night in question, the woman was socialising with family members in her sister’s house.

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A Garda witness in the trial told Roisin Lacey SC, prosecuting, that the woman did not invite the man to her bedroom or give him any encouragement to join her. The woman got into bed, fully dressed, and then went to sleep immediately.

The trial heard that the woman woke up hearing breath behind her and felt someone raping her. She saw the accused and jumped up, running into her sister’s room to tell her what had happened.

The trial heard the man had accepted sexual intercourse had taken place. During the trial he claimed she was awake when he entered the room and consented to sex.

In her victim impact statement, the woman said that June 21st, 2015, will “forever be etched in my heart for all the wrong reasons” as that was the day her world fell apart and her children “lost their mother”.

At the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy rejected the man’s grounds of appeal, which had submitted that a witness in the case made contradictory statements in his oral evidence at the trial compared to those in his statement to gardaí.

Lawyers for the male submitted that the witness’ evidence should not have been allowed to go before the jury.

Mr Justice McCarthy said that the appeal centred on the admissibility of the witness’ oral evidence which formed one of the main parts of the case against the male.

Mr Justice McCarthy said it was the appellant’s submission that the witness had been “materially inconsistent” when giving evidence before the jury regarding his memories of the night.

Mr Justice McCarthy said the trial judge had listened to audio and read the statements made by the witness and had thoroughly considered the matter which had been fully argued before the judge.

In dismissing the appeal, Mr Justice McCarthy said he could see no reason why the jury would think ill of the evidence that was put before them, or that it would prejudice them in their decision-making.

He also noted that there had been no application by the defence for a corroboration warning to be put to the jury at the trial regarding the witness’ evidence.

A corroboration warning can be given by a judge to a jury to highlight the dangers of convicting a defendant on the basis of uncorroborated evidence.

In her victim impact statement, the woman said that physically she was there for her children but emotionally she was “far away”. She said that she could not eat or sleep or even function as a human, never mind as a mother or care-giver.

She said she could not stand being around people or being left alone with her thoughts and feelings, leaving her “trapped”. She said she did not feel safe in her own home and her own bed was “a hateful place”.

At the trial, Paul Greene SC, defending, said his client regrets the position the woman finds herself in. He said his client is of “unblemished character” save for this offence and was in employment up until the conviction was recorded.

Trial judge Mr Justice White said what the woman did on that night was what thousands of other people around the country were doing. He said that she was in a home she was very familiar with and would have expected security.

Mr Justice White said he wanted to pay tribute to her as he knew this had been a “terrible ordeal”.

He said the offence was aggravated by the impact on the victim and “the predatory nature of the attack”. He said it was “mystifying” that a young man could perform “such a callous crime”.

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