A Dublin man, sentenced to three years for raping his niece, has been granted leave to remain free on bail for a month in order to seek leave to appeal his conviction.
Paul Jones (41), with an address at Kinvara Park, Firhouse was found guilty by a jury at the Central Criminal Court last February on three charges of raping the now 30-year-old woman on dates from 1976 to 1978.
He was also convicted by the jury on five charges of indecently assaulting her on dates from 1975 to 1979. She was aged five to 10 years during the abuse.
Mr Justice Paul Butler remanded Jones on continuing bail to commence his sentence on May 31st next on the application of his defence counsel as a result of new information which the defence claimed it had uncovered but wasn't available during the trial.
Mr Justice Butler rejected the submission by the prosecution that sentence should begin immediately and said the deferment sought by the defence wouldn't hurt either side.
Jones had been on bail since February awaiting what he knew would be a custodial sentence, he said.