DPP v B(T)

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: KEANE J.,Keane J.
• Judgment Date: 06 November 1996
• Neutral Citation: 1998 WJSC-CCA 5231
• Docket Number: 9/96
• Court: Court of Criminal Appeal
• Date: 06 November 1996

DPP v. B(T)

PEOPLE (D.P.P.)

V

T.B.

APPLICANT

1998 WJSC-CCA 5231

9/96

COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEAL

Synopsis:

[1996] 3 IR 294

Citations:

CRIMINAL LAW (RAPE) (AMDT) ACT 1990

CRIMINAL LAW (IRL) ACT 1828

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT 1951 S5

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT 1984 S11(1)

R V LAWRENCE 1989 11 CAR (SEN) 580

ASHWORTH SENTENCING & CRIMINAL JUSTICE 2ED 209

DPP, PEOPLE V HEALY 1990 1 IR 388

1 JUDGMENT OF THE COURT DELIVERED 6TH NOVEMBER 1996BYKEANE J.

KEANE J.

2 2 consecutive terms of 4 years imprisonment imposed by Circuit Court on plea of guilty to 2 counts of indecent assault; other charges of indecent assault and sexual assault (to which Applicant also pleaded guilty) taken into account; argued that by imposing consecutive sentences, trial Judge had circumvented the 5 year maximum permitted by statute for indecent assault (sexual assault carries maximum of 10 years); jurisdiction to impose concurrent or consecutive sentences considered; in instant case as offences did not arise out of same incident, trial Judge had discretion to impose consecutive sentences and in doing so did not breach "principle of totality" - no error in principle and sentences affirmed

3 JUDGMENT of the Court delivered the 6th day of November,1996by Keane J.

4 The Applicant pleaded guilty in the Circuit Court to 16 counts of indecent assault and 16 counts of sexual assault against his daughter, GB, and two counts of sexual assault against one ROC, an 18 year old girl. The learned Circuit Court judge imposed sentences of 4 years imprisonment in respect of two of the counts of indecent assault against GB and ordered the sentences to run consecutively. The Applicant applied for leave to appeal on the ground that the sentences were excessively severe, which application was refused. He now appeals to thiscourt.

5 The facts can be shortly stated. The Applicant is a farm labourer and the Complainant, GB, is his youngest daughter. Her mother died in January 1989 after suffering from multiple sclerosis for approximately 10 years. Towards the end of her mother's life, when GB was approximately 9½ years old, the Applicant began sexually abusing her. This continued on a regular basis until August 1994 at which stage the Complainant was 16 and reported the Applicant's behaviour to the gardai. The Complainant in her statement to the gardai said that the Applicant on a number of occasions physically attacked her or threatened so to do if she did not co-operate with him in the sexual activity. The Complainant also made it clear in her statement that the Applicant on these occasions tried to have anal, vaginal or oral intercourse with her but that she managed to resist him before he actually penetrated her. This account is not disputed by the Applicant in his statement to the gardai, although he contents himself with saying that

"I never had full sexual intercourse with her. I never penetrated her."

6 The counts in relation to ROC arise out or assaults that took place in 1994. On an evening between the 25th May and 14th June of that year, the Applicant gave a life in his car to the Complainant and asked her to show him the way to a local nursery. He availed of this pretext to drive her to a lonely place where he sexually assaulted her. The second assault took place in lateJuly or early August when the Applicant again gave the Complainant a lift in his car, drove it to a lonely area and sexually assaultedher.

7 At the trial a grada sergeant gave evidence that the Applicant, who was then aged 45 and unemployed, had never come to the notice of the gardai before that but had a previous conviction for burglary in 1982. He agreed that the Applicant was co-operative from the outset and seemed to be relieved that everything had now come to light. A social worker gave evidence that GB had repeated her leaving certificate last year and passed it and that she was now working in a local restaurant. She said that she was concerned about GB at the moment and that she thought she would always have difficulty in trusting people. She said that she hoped GB would be able to develop a close relationship, but that she was going to need support for a long time. She did not, however, blame herself in any way for the episodes and, in the view of the social worker, that was a hopeful sign.

8 It was said on behalf of the Applicant that he had been in regular employment until the time that his wife became ill with multiple sclerosis and that at that stage he gave up work to look after her. He had developed a very bad problem with alcohol over the years and the behaviour to which he had pleaded guilty was invariably...