The Court of Criminal Appeal has dismissed an application by the DPP to increase a prison sentence imposed on a cleric, Brother Ambrose, otherwise James Kelly, for indecent assault of young boys in his care.
The court took the view that "ample punishment" had been imposed on Kelly, who is himself an alleged victim of sexual abuse.
Kelly (77) was sentenced in Cork Circuit Court in March by Judge Patrick Moran to five years imprisonment, with four years suspended, after he pleaded guilty to two sample counts of sexually abusing young boys in his care at the Brothers of Charity facility at Lota, Cork, in the 1950s and 1960s.
Some 75 other charges which were not proceeded with were also taken into account.
Among several factors taken into account by the trial judge were Kelly's guilty plea, ill-health and the fact that since 1974 there had been no further complaints about his behaviour.
Kelly, who was in court yesterday and walking with the aid of sticks, had previously been jailed after pleading guilty to other sexual-abuse offences in three locations dating back between 37 and 48 years.
He could be freed next month, but that is dependent on what view is taken by another Circuit Court judge who had dealt with Kelly regarding separate offences and who had made it a condition that Kelly be moved to a religious house in either England or Belgium.
Due to publicity about his offences, it had not been possible for Kelly to go to either country, the CCA heard yesterday.
At earlier hearings, the courts heard Kelly entered the Brothers of Charity novitiate at 11 years old. In statements to gardaí, he alleged that he was sexually abused by two Brothers and a classmate. He also alleged he was abused by a Superior while in Cork.
At the CCA yesterday, counsel for the DPP argued that the suspension of four years of the five-year sentence was unduly lenient.
Rejecting the application, Mr Justice Geoghegan, presiding, said Kelly had served at least three years in prison, and the CCA took the view that that was ample punishment given the circumstances of the case. The CCA could not find that the trial judge had made any error in principle in imposing the five-year sentence, with four years suspended. The CCA could not find the sentence was unduly lenient.
The trial judge had looked at the situation in the round and taken into account the fact that there had been three batches of similar charges against Kelly, all relating to periods in the 1950s and 1960s. The trial judge was entitled to have regard to the position adopted by the other judges who had dealt with Kelly and had also had the benefit of a very impressive psychologists' report which took the view that Kelly was at very low risk of repeating the offences.
