Ryan Dunne and Isabel Hayes
The State has argued that sentences of between nine and 15 years that were imposed on three family members jailed as part of the Munster abuse trial were too lenient.
The case concerned the rape and sexual exploitation of young children, which the trial judge described as “sheer horror”.
“You can in some cases consider life in prison, and that is how bad this case was,” counsel for the State, Bernard Condon SC, said, bringing the matter before the Court of Appeal on Thursday on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The victims’ father (59) was convicted of rape, sexual exploitation, sexual assault, and child cruelty, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison by Mr Justice Paul McDermott at the Central Criminal Court in January 2022.
Their mother (37) was convicted of sexual assault, sexual exploitation, and child cruelty, and was sentenced to nine years in prison, and their uncle (51) was convicted of rape, sexual assault, and sexual exploitation, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The offences occurred between August 2014 and April 2016, starting when three of the victims – a young girl and her two brothers – were aged five, six and seven.
Reporting restrictions put in place by the trial judge, preventing the publication of the exact nature of the abuse the children suffered to protect their welfare and identities, remain in place.
Mr Condon referenced the “astonishing features” of the case, saying a headline sentence of 16 years had been set in the case of the victims’ father and uncle respectively, but the sentencing court ought to have considered this offending at the top level of seriousness.
Concerning the offences inflicted on the children for years, which had a catastrophic effect on them, Mr Condon said that there was “barely a feature of aggravation that is missing” from this case.
The court heard that the children have since been taken into State care.
Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said as this case involved multiple offences of a sexual nature, there would be very little mitigation, even when the respondent had no previous convictions.
In the case of the victims’ uncle, Mr Condon said the man was “a central player in the abuse”, who raped two of the children and sexually abused all three.
Concerning the mother of the victims, Mr Condon said that a headline sentence of 12 years had been set, but there was then a reduction of 25 per cent for mitigation, which the State said was excessive.
Starting point
Mr Condon said the trial judge had considered that for the sexual assaults she committed, the starting point for sentencing should be the same as her husband, but the judge had gone on to say that the dynamic in the offending had not been driven by her.
Mr Condon said that all aggravating features were present in the mother’s case. He said that her involvement was at the top end of the scale, not the middle, so a 12-year headline sentence was too low.
Mr Justice John Edwards noted that she had no previous convictions and had led a very difficult early life, which featured a lot of physical chastisement, so there was some mitigation there.
Mark Nicholas SC, defence counsel for the father, said it was a serious case, but the trial judge, having listened to the evidence, quite correctly set the right zone for the headline sentence.
He said there was no suggestion of any offending by the father up to 2014, while a lengthy prison sentence would affect the father greater than it would a younger man.
Defence counsel for the uncle, Andrew Sexton SC, said that the trial judge had indicated that the sentence imposed reflected the seriousness of the offences, as he had addressed the matter carefully and methodically before coming to his conclusion.
While the trial judge had set a headline sentence of 16 years, Mr Sexton said the judge had also imposed probation supervision for three years, which was a feature of the overall sentence.
Pointing out that the offending occurred over not quite two years, Mr Sexton said there was not a litany of violent behaviour in this case, to which Mr Justice Edwards said that “rape is an inherently violent act”.
Mr Sexton said his client had led a blameless life up to that point, and he had a history of ill health, although counsel accepted that there was limited evidence of that.
Dean Kelly SC, defending the mother, said the trial judge was by some distance the most experienced trial judge in the State, and the dynamic of the offending had not been driven by the victims’ mother.
Mr Justice Edwards noted the “sheer horror” of this case, while Ms Justice Kennedy said there had been “a gross breach of trust”.
Mr Justice Edwards said the court would reserve judgement in the case.
Disclosures
The 2021 trial heard harrowing evidence that the child victims were small and thin for their age and suffered a range of issues while in the care of their parents, including chronic tooth decay, dietary problems and low weight, recurring head lice and scabies, third degree sunburn and marks and scarring to their bodies.
They had a wide range of behavioural issues, including hypervigilance, over-compliance and anxiety.
The court heard that after they were placed in care, the eldest of three children started to make disclosures in relation to sexual abuse at the hands of their parents and other relatives, leading to their arrests in 2018.
Altogether, five family members were found guilty by the jury on all but one of the 78 counts against them following a 10-week trial held at Croke Park in summer 2021.
They were all found guilty of sexually abusing the children on dates between August 2014 and April 2016, while the parents were found guilty of wilfully neglecting five of the children, who were aged between one and nine during the period the abuse took place.
Mr Justice McDermott jailed the children’s father for 15 years after he was found guilty of all 31 offences against him. These included raping his three older children, sexual assault, sexual exploitation, wilful neglect and child cruelty.
Their mother was jailed for nine years, having been found guilty of all 25 offences against her, including sexual assault, sexual exploitation and wilful neglect of her children.
The prosecution case was that the children’s now 51-year-old uncle – the husband of their maternal aunt – was “right in the middle” of the family’s affairs, and the children gave “strong, compelling, consistent evidence” against him.
They argued the uncle played a significant role in the abuse of the oldest boy and told him not to tell anyone. He was found guilty of all 10 counts against him, including raping the young girl and sexually assaulting her two brothers. He was also convicted of sexual exploitation.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help.