This article is from page 17 of the 2007-12-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 17 JPG
THE sentence imposed on Adam Keane for raping Mary Shannon at a house in Ennis two-and-a-half years ago has been increased to 10 years, three of which are suspended.
Keane (26), of Barnageeha, Daragh was found guilty of rape at the Cen- tral Criminal Court in Dublin last February, arising out of an incident on May 30, 2005.
His three year suspended sentence was appealed by the State to the
three-judge Court of Criminal Ap- eer
The Court of Appeal ruled this week that the sentence imposed by the Central Criminal Court was “unduly lenient, even when all the migitating factors are taken into account”.
In imposing sentence last March, Mr Justice Paul Carney referred to a previous case. However the Court of Appeal said his “preoccupation” with the previous decision “distracted him from the essential particularities of this case”.
“The trial judge made no reference in his sentencing decision to the 1m- pact which the crime had on the vic- tim and her family life, nor did he ap- pear to attach sufficient weight to the place and circumstances in which the rape was committed.”
“This court 1s satisfied, having re- gard to the circumstances of the case, the particular circumstances of the respondent, that the well established principle that a custodial sentence should be imposed for the offence of rape ought to have been followed,
there being no facts or circumstances in the case which could justify the exceptional and rare departure from that principle. Accordingly, in i1m- posing a suspended sentence in this instance, the learned trial judge erred in principle,’ stated the 28-page re- port, published on Wednesday.
The judges ruled the fact that Keane had taken alcohol and drugs on the night in question and could not re- member what had happened did not “absolve him from criminal responsi- bility as the jury correctly concluded
HOM Us DURYos Ken elma
The Court of Appeal said it decided to suspend the final three years of the ten-year term.
“With a view to encouraging the re- habilitation of this young man and in all the circumstances of the case, the court will suspend three years of that term of imprisonment on his under- taking to enter into a bond to keep the peace,” it stated.
He will be subject to post-release Supervision for one year and will be placed on the sex offenders register.