A man who repeatedly raped his goddaughter when she was aged between seven and nine and he was in his early 20s has lost an appeal against his conviction.
The 62-year-old from the west of Ireland, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had pleaded not guilty to two counts of indecently assaulting the victim – who was also his cousin – and two counts of raping her at her family home on unknown dates between 1982 and 1984.
The jury rejected his case, however, and in June 2020 he was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment at the Central Criminal Court by Ms Justice Carmel Stewart.
The man, who is now married with adult children, did not accept the verdict and launched an appeal against his conviction.
In documents submitted to the Court of Appeal, the man claimed the verdict of the jury had been “unsafe” and that his trial had been “unfair”.
It was further submitted that there had been inconsistencies between the complainant’s statement to gardaí and the evidence she had given in court and that Ms Justice Stewart had erred when she failed to discharge the jury “during the course of the complainant’s evidence”.
The trial judge, according to the appellant, had also failed to give proper instruction to the jury in her charge on how they should consider the issue of the delay between the time when the offences occurred and when the victim complained to gardaí.
“There was no reason given why that delay existed,” Damien Colgan SC, for the appellant, told the Court of Appeal on Monday.
Appeal dismissed
However, in a judgment delivered by Court President Mr Justice George Birmingham, sitting with Mr Justice John Edwards and Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, the three judge court dismissed the appeal.
Describing Ms Justice Stewart’s charge to the jury as “impeccable”, Mr Justice Birmingham said the court had not been persuaded to uphold any of the grounds of the appeal.
“It seems to us, the judge was conscious of the need to draw the jury’s attention to the difficulties of long delays encountered in what are known as historic sex abuse cases,” the judge noted.
In her victim impact statement, the woman previously said her abuser had been so trusted and respected by her parents they had given him the honour of being her godfather.
“What this man did with this privilege was to sexually abuse and rape me, starting from when I was seven years old,” the woman told the court.
She said she was so “petrified” of the man that she could not share the burden of what was happening to her with her siblings, despite them sharing all her childhood secrets.
“When I was seven, I should have had a carefree childhood with no worries,” she said. Instead, she said she lived in constant fear of her cousin.
“Not once has this man apologised or shown remorse for what he did,” she said. “But I am a survivor. It hasn't been an easy road. But I am one of the lucky ones.”
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. In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.
