A Co Kerry man jailed for seven years for the "particularly serious" rape of a married woman who was giving him a lift home failed yesterday to have his sentence reduced.
Mr Justice Keane, presiding at the Court of Criminal Appeal, said it could not conclude that the trial judge had erred in principle when jailing Liam Sheehy for seven years' penal servitude.
The three-judge court also echoed the trial judge's criticism of a campaign against the rape victim and her family. It accepted that neither the defendant nor his family were involved in that campaign.
Sheehy (30), of Duagh, Listowel, was convicted by a jury on December 13th, 1996, of the rape of the woman in her car on July 5th, 1993, at nearby Buckley's Cross. He was subsequently jailed for seven years, reduced to six years eight months to take into account time in custody.
Yesterday he brought an appeal against severity of sentence. Mr Patrick Gageby SC, for Sheehy, said part of the trial judge's charge was open to the interpretation that the conduct by the defendant of his case before the jury was an aggravating feature that should be punished. He submitted the offence could not be aggravated because a defendant opted for trial before a jury and lost.
He agreed Sheehy has not expressed any regret for the offence but that was not because his client was cold-hearted, it was because he maintained his innocence.
Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, for the DPP, said the sentence for a vicious and violent rape was justified. He submitted the judge was entitled to have regard to the way the defence was run.
Dismissing the appeal, Mr Justice Keane, sitting with Miss Justice Carroll and Mr Justice Kelly, said this was a rape in the particularly serious category. Sheehy had perpetrated the crime in a remote area and when his victim escaped from the car, he pursued her and brought her back and raped her. For this type of offence, seven years would seem unexceptional and not wrong in principle.
Mr Justice Keane said Sheehy, having exercised his right to plead not guilty, then told a story which sought to blame his victim. The trial judge was entitled and obliged to take into account how the defence was conducted on the instructions of Sheehy.
Mr Justice Keane said the victim's ordeal was compounded by a campaign against her which followed Sheehy's trial. The trial judge had deplored that campaign and the Court of Criminal Appeal did likewise.