A man who was 17 when he coerced a 12-year-old girl to perform oral sex on him has lost an appeal against the severity of his four-year jail sentence. The defilement of the child occurred at a location in Co Cavan in 2017.
The man, who is now 23, pleaded guilty to the defilement of a person under 15 years of age at Cavan Circuit Criminal Court in June 2021. Judge John Aylmer sentenced the then 21-year-old in January 2022 to five-and-a-half years' imprisonment but suspended the final 18 months to incentivise his rehabilitation.
At the Court of Appeal on Friday, Fiona Murphy SC, for the accused, challenged the sentencing remarks of the trial judge's assessment of the aggravating factors in the case. Ms Murphy submitted that while there was a significant age difference between the accused and the girl, this was not an aggravating factor in the case "per se".
She highlighted how the trial judge said there had been a "significant degree of premeditation" in relation to Snapchat and text messages from the accused to the girl. Counsel said that the judge also noted that the assault lasted a "significant period of time" but the evidence of the friend of the victim meant that "it could not have gone on for more than five minutes, or so".
Ms Murphy added that, while she accepted it had been a "very serious incident" and her client had been persistent, a a pre-mitigation headline sentence of seven years was too high. She said her client had committed a one-off offence, entered an early guilty plea, engaged with gardaí and had no previous convictions.
In dismissing the appeal, Ms Justice Kennedy said the trial judge had given a "significant discount" for the early guilty plea in reducing the headline sentence from seven years to five and a half and then suspending 18 months to incentivise rehabilitation.
Ms Justice Kennedy said the court could not agree, that because the accused was 17 at the time, that this diminished his culpability. The Judge noted the "tender years of the child involved" who was a victim of coercion and the teenager's persistence.
