A challenge, by way of judicial review, by a young offender convicted of the murder and rape of a 14-year-old girl, to an excepting direction which discharged a reporting restriction order imposed under the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 s.45(3), was refused.
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE ANONYMITY CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CULPABILITY DETENTION AT HER MAJESTY’S PLEASURE EXCEPTING DIRECTIONS IDENTIFICATION JURISDICTION MENTALLY DISORDERED OFFENDERS MINIMUM TERM MURDER OPEN JUSTICE RAPE REPORTING RESTRICTIONS SENTENCING YOUNG OFFENDERS
A judge had not erred in refusing to sever an indictment containing counts relating to separate incidents of murder and sexual assault. The incidents were broadly similar and close in time and there were a number of very significant similarities. The issue as to whether they were wholly disconnected was a matter for the jury.
ADMISSIBILITY COINCIDENCE CRIMINAL EVIDENCE CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT 2003 s.101 CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE RULES 2014 r.14.2(3) CROSS-ADMISSIBILITY OF EVIDENCE INDICTMENTS MURDER Pt 1 s.103 s.3 s.31 s.53 SEVERANCE SEXUAL ASSAULT SIMILARITIES BETWEEN ATTACKS ON YOUNG FEMALE VICTIMS
An offender’s convictions for historic offences of rape, buggery, attempted rape, indecent assault and murder were deemed safe, as the judge had given the jury adequate directions as to the dangers of delay and its effect on the evidence.
“HISTORIC” OFFENCES ADMISSIBILITY ADMISSION OF HISTORIC EVIDENCE ATTEMPTS BUGGERY CONFESSIONS CRIMINAL EVIDENCE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE DELAY EFFECT ON FAIRNESS OF TRIAL INDECENT ASSAULT JURY DIRECTIONS MURDER POLICE INTERVIEWS PREJUDICE RAPE SEXUAL OFFENCES SIGNIFICANT DELAY IN CHARGING OFFENDER
There was no support for the proposition that the Criminal Justice (Evidence) (Northern Ireland) Order 2004 had changed the law by prohibiting bad character evidence on its own from constituting, in appropriate circumstances, evidence of identity.
ADMISSIBILITY BAD CHARACTER CHILD SEX OFFENCES CRIMINAL EVIDENCE CRIMINAL JUSTICE (EVIDENCE) (NORTHERN IRELAND) ORDER 2004 IDENTITY MURDER NORTHERN IRELAND PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS SIMILAR FACT EVIDENCE SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE ON ITS OWN TO ESTABLISH IDENTITY
There was no support for the proposition that the Criminal Justice (Evidence) (Northern Ireland) Order 2004 had changed the law by prohibiting bad character evidence on its own from constituting, in appropriate circumstances, evidence of identity.
ADMISSIBILITY BAD CHARACTER CHILD SEX OFFENCES CRIMINAL EVIDENCE CRIMINAL JUSTICE (EVIDENCE) (NORTHERN IRELAND) ORDER 2004 IDENTITY MURDER NORTHERN IRELAND PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS SIMILAR FACT EVIDENCE SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE ON ITS OWN TO ESTABLISH IDENTITY
A judge had not erred in adopting a 30-year starting point for the minimum term when sentencing a young offender to detention for life following his conviction for the murder of a 16-year-old girl, on the basis that the murder involved sexual or sadistic conduct and fell within the Criminal Justice Act 2003 Sch.21 para.5(2)(e), notwithstanding the offender’s limited intellectual ability and profound psychological and emotional difficulties.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT 2003 Sch.21 para.5(2)(e) INTENTION MITIGATION MURDER RAPE s.5(2)(e) SADISTIC CONDUCT Sch.21 Sch.21 para.11(c) Sch.21 para.5 Sch.21 para.8 SENTENCE LENGTH SENTENCING SEXUAL ABUSE YOUNG OFFENDERS
A sentence of life imprisonment with a minimum term of 35 years where a 21-year-old uncle had raped and strangled his two-year-old niece was not excessive. The sentencing judge had taken account of the defendant’s age and guilty plea in deciding not to impose a whole life order, and so those features could not be factored into calculation of the minimum term because it would have provided the defendant with a second discount.
CHILD SEX OFFENCES CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT 2003 Sch.21 para.4(2) MANDATORY LIFE IMPRISONMENT MINIMUM TERM MURDER RAPE RAPE AND MURDER OF TWO-YEAR-OLD CHILD Sch.21 SENTENCE LENGTH SENTENCING SEXUAL ACTIVITY WITH CHILD FAMILY MEMBERS WHOLE LIFE ORDERS
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