A Roscommon man who repeatedly sexually assaulted a teenage girl who babysat his children has had his five-and-a-half-year jail term reduced by 15 months at the Court of Appeal.
Michael King (53) abused the girl at locations in Roscommon over a nine-month period, ending in September 2005.
In May 2023, at Roscommon Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Kenneth Connolly jailed King, of Warren View, Boyle, Co Roscommon, for five and a half years for 12 counts of sexual assault on the girl who was 16 at the time of the offending, while King was in his mid-30s.
King appealed the length of the sentence on grounds of severity. On Thursday, the Court of Appeal cut his jail term by 15 months.
King had pleaded not guilty to all 12 counts of sexual assault, but a jury unanimously convicted him on all charges.
The trial court heard that, over time, King began his assaults by kissing the girl and touching her bottom, then progressing to forcing her to touch his penis, masturbating him to ejaculation, and performing oral sex on the girl.
The injured party, who was a babysitter for King’s children, waived her right to anonymity so that King could be publicly named as an abuser.
The families of King and the victim had been close at the time of the abuse, with the sentencing court hearing that the injured party is a cousin of King’s now ex-wife.
'Excessive and disproportionate'
At the Court of Appeal last month, Dara Foynes SC, for King, submitted that the sentencing judge erred in his assessment of the gravity of the offending, “with the consequence being that he nominated a headline sentence of 10-and-a-half years that was excessive and disproportionate”.
Ms Foynes submitted that the judge also erred in principle by imposing consecutive sentences in respect of two counts of sexual assault, and that the trial judge failed to “have sufficient regard to the mitigation present in the case”.
At the Court of Appeal on Thursday, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said the court would quash the original sentence and re-sentence King to five years’ imprisonment with the final nine months suspended.
Mr Justice McCarthy said counsel for the appellant had submitted that “there was an error in principle in imposing consecutive sentences”, as there was “merely one victim and that the offending was a continuum... over a limited period”.
The trial judge had identified a pre-mitigation headline sentence of two-and-a-half years on count one with a further headline sentence of eight years identified for count 12, the charge of sexual assault by King in performing oral sex on the girl.
Mr Justice McCarthy said both of the original sentences were to run consecutively with all other charges taken into consideration by the trial judge.
Mr Justice McCarthy said the “imposition of consecutive sentences in this case has given rise to a true headline sentence for all of the offending of some 10-and-a-half years”.
Headline in practice
“We think that the trial judge has fallen into error. The headline for count 12, notwithstanding the fact that other counts were taken into consideration, is excessive or disproportionate,” said Mr Justice McCarthy.
Mr Justice McCarthy said the two-and-a-half years identified as a headline sentence for count one running consecutively to count 12’s headline sentence of eight years “compounded the error”.
“If the cumulative sentence of 10-and-a-half years is to be regarded as the headline in practice, it is excessive and disproportionate,” Mr Justice McCarthy said, adding the Court of Appeal would quash the original sentence and proceed to re-sentencing King.
“We adopt a different approach to the judge. We think the most straightforward way of proceeding is to sentence on a global basis for all offending on the more serious of the offences, that is count 12, which involved oral sex by the appellant on the victim,” Mr Justice McCarthy said.
The judge added the appropriate headline sentence ought to be one of seven years. Mitigating factors, albeit without “the single most important factor, a guilty plea”, resulted in a reduction to six years.
In applying the “totality principle”, Mr Justice McCarthy further reduced the sentence to five years and then suspended the last nine months for two years.
The judge added that King’s offending occurred “some 19 to 20 years ago”, and he had since led a “pro-social life”, describing King as a hard-working man, a loving father, and someone who is “to some degree beginning to understand his moral culpability”.
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.
