A GAA coach who “destroyed” the life of the boy he raped has been denied leave by the Supreme Court to appeal against a four-year increase in his sentence for what a judge found were “unusual, shocking and extremely disturbing” crimes.
At the Central Criminal Court in December 2021, the man, who cannot be identified in order to protect the victim’s identity, was sentenced to 10½ years imprisonment with the final 18 months suspended by Mr Justice Michael MacGrath.
On the day he was due to go on trial in April 2021, the man (43) entered guilty pleas in relation to 15 sample counts including oral rape, attempted anal rape, sexual assault, false imprisonment, assault causing harm and criminal damage. The court heard evidence of further sexual assaults during a trip to London but these counts were dropped as they had taken place outside the jurisdiction.
The offences took place at locations that included the man’s home, at a midlands sports grounds and at a hotel in Dublin.
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The Central Criminal Court heard the man had been extradited from the US to face the charges.
At the Court of Appeal in March, Eilis Brennan SC, for the State, who submitted the sentence was too low, said the victim endured a “continuum” of sexual and physical abuse as well as “emotional torture” over a six-year period. She told the court that the nine-year sentence did not reflect the “destruction” of a young man’s life.
Ms Brennan said the child had been subject to multiple rapes and sexual assaults that began when he was 13 years old and continued to when he was 15. She said the “continuous” harassment of the victim involved “dominion, control and humiliation” and that the injured party “felt he had to leave college as he was being destroyed at every point and he eventually had to drop out”.
The successful application saw the Court of Appeal increase the original sentence to 14 years and six months with the final 18 months suspended, with Ms Justice Tara Burns finding that the sentencing judge had failed to properly take into account the “global seriousness” of the offending.
Ms Justice Burns said the case involved repeated sexual offending aggravated by a series of humiliating physical assaults and a broader campaign of harassment.
The judge described the offending as “unusual, shocking and extremely disturbing”. She added: “The injured party, a child for nearly all the offending, and a young man attempting to make his way in the world at the conclusion of the offending, was treated in a manner devoid of humanity, morality and respect.”
The Supreme Court noted that the man’s appeal over the length of the increased sentence concerned a case involving 30 counts of oral rape, 37 counts of sexual assault, an attempted oral rape, false imprisonment, assault causing harm and criminal damage.
The accused pleaded guilty to 15 counts with consent to the facts of all the offences being considered as part of the sentencing process.
The accused had asserted in his application to the Supreme Court that he was in the lower band for sexually violent offending, that delays in the case amounted to an injustice and that there were issues about consent and the age of the victim.
In dismissing leave to appeal the increased sentence, Mr Justice Peter Charleton, Mr Justice Maurice Collins and Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly said the Court of Appeal had conducted a “thorough examination of the facts” in assessing the category of seriousness of the offending and had recognised delays in the case.
The Supreme Court judges said there was “nothing” to suggest that any law was misapplied in what was a “difficult case that was sensitively considered” and that the appropriate upward adjustment of sentence had been correctly made.
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