A custodial sentence of 9 years and 6 months and a further probation period of one year imposed on a 91-year-old former monk for historical offences of indecent assault, buggery and attempted buggery was unduly lenient, and was replaced with a custodial term of 12 years.
A sentence of five months’ imprisonment which had been imposed on a father following his conviction for sexually assaulting his two-year-old son was unduly lenient. The offence merited a sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment together with the imposition of a sexual offences prevention order.
The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission had no standing to seek a declaration that abortion law in Northern Ireland was incompatible with ECHR art.3 and art.8 because it had not instituted proceedings by identifying any unlawful act or any actual or potential victim. Although the Supreme Court therefore had no jurisdiction to make a declaration […]
The failure to provide exceptions to the law in Northern Ireland prohibiting abortion in respect of fatal foetal abnormality at any time, and pregnancies due to sexual crime up to the date when a foetus became capable of an existence independent of its mother, was contrary to the ECHR art.8.
In a criminal case concerning historical sexual offences, the judge had not favoured the prosecution in his directions to the jury, and the appellate court was not left with any sense of unease about the safety of the convictions.
In a high-profile case concerning historical sexual offences, the trial judge had not erred in her approach to pre-trial publicity, had properly summed up the defence case, and had given the jury proper directions as to the burden and standard of proof, lies and inconsistencies.
A determinate sentence of two years was appropriate in the case of a 27-year-old man who had pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl.
The Northern Ireland Court of Appeal reiterated the approach set out in R. v McKeown (Gary) [2013] NICA 28, namely that although assistance might be derived from the aggravating and mitigating features identified by the England and Wales Sentencing Guidelines Council in its definitive guidance, judges and practitioners in Northern Ireland were not constrained by […]
A judge in an historic sexual offences trial had not erred in declining to discharge a juror who had known a witness’s husband through work only well enough to say hello to in passing. The judge had ascertained that the juror felt that she could remain faithful to her oath and there had been no […]
The Court of Appeal of Northern Ireland did not have jurisdiction to hear a purported appeal under the Criminal Appeal (Northern Ireland) Act 1980 against the lifting of reporting restrictions following a young offender’s conviction for serious sexual offences as the order had not been made on conviction as was required by s.8. The interim […]
