ANALYSIS:THE COURT of Criminal Appeal (CCA) has indicated, for the second time recently, that, except in the most exceptional circumstances, a determinate sentence is preferable to an indeterminate sentence in serious sexual cases involving previous convictions.
However, in both cases it ruled that these sentences should be accompanied by 10 years of post-release supervision.
In this case, the last two and a half years of the 15-year sentence is also suspended on condition that the perpetrator attend counselling and comply with Probation Service directions. Failure to do so will entail a return to prison.
The CCA took into account two different issues: the appropriate sentence for the crimes committed in all circumstances, both of the crime and of the offender; and the need to protect the public.
At the original trial, the judge considered that the violence and degradation in the rapes of the two boys, where the offender was trusted by them, was an aggravating factor to be considered in sentencing. His early guilty plea, his co-operation with the gardaí and his early expressions of apparently genuine remorse were all mitigating factors. He therefore concluded that the crimes merited a 10-year sentence, and the CCA considered this correct in principle.
However, he had already served two sentences for similar offences against other boys, and this, in the view of the trial judge, meant he was undeterred by the sentences, could offend again, and therefore merited a life sentence.
Section 29 of the Criminal Justice Act 1999 provides for an early guilty plea to be taken into account when sentencing, but adds that this does not mean a life sentence cannot be imposed in exceptional circumstances.
The court said these exceptional circumstances should be identified in such a way as to make it absolutely clear why the maximum sentence is warranted.
The CCA acknowledged the possibility that Sullivan would represent a continuing danger to the public should be taken into account. However, it concluded that a significant period of post-release supervision, combined with a counselling regime addressing reasons for the offences, was a better way of dealing with this danger than an indeterminate sentence that would not contain these ingredients.