A German man who raped his young stepdaughter after forcing her and her brother to watch pornographic videos failed yesterday to have his eight-and-a-half-year sentence reduced.
The Court of Criminal Appeal heard that the man, now aged 55, had pleaded guilty in November 1997 to two counts of sexual assault against his stepdaughter in August 1995 and one count of rape of the child in June 1996. The girl was aged between eight and nine years at the time of the offences.
At the Central Criminal Court in February 1998, the man was jailed for four-and-a-half years for the sexual assaults and eight-and-a-half years for the rape, both sentences to run concurrently.
Appealing against the severity of the sentence yesterday, Mr Hugh Hartnett SC, for the man, said he had significant previous convictions in Germany but none for sexual crimes. His client had pleaded guilty to the offences and had written to the child's mother expressing remorse, counsel said. He argued the trial judge should have given him more credit for his guilty plea. The court should also take into account the man was a foreigner and had received just one visit in prison. Counsel for the DPP said it was hard to imagine a worse case of paedophile rape.
Counsel said the girl and her brother were compelled by the man to watch pornographic videos and her brother had to look on while his sister was being raped. The incident had devastating and incalculable effects on both children and the brother had attempted suicide. There was no evidence that the man was deprived of the friendship of other inmates in prison, counsel added.
Mr Justice Lynch, sitting with Mr Justice Carney and Mr Justice Geoghegan in the Court of Criminal Appeal, said the offence was very serious, especially because the accused was in a position of trust as a sort of stepfather. The judge said the accused had exposed the girl and her brother to pornographic videos as part of the set-up for the child's rape.
He said the man had pleaded guilty to the rape and sexual assault of the child "very late in the day". He accepted that, as a foreigner, the man was more likely to experience additional pain and suffering through imprisonment.
But it seemed that the trial judge had taken all the factors of the case into account and there was no reason to interfere with the sentence imposed, Mr Justice Lynch said. The court dismissed the appeal and upheld sentence.
