THE COURT of Criminal Appeal has reserved judgment in the case of a 47-year-old man appealing against his conviction and sentence for having sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl.
The applicant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was one of several men to see charges of unlawful carnal knowledge against them dropped after the Supreme Court ruled in 2006 that legislation concerning unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under the age of 15 was unconstitutional.
Having been recharged with sexual assault, the man denied having sex with the teenager at his home on July 17th, 2004.
He was jailed for six years by Judge Desmond Hogan in October last year, having being found guilty of sexual assault by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury following a seven-day trial.
The court heard how the man first built up a relationship with his teenage victim via text message, before inviting her to his home, plying her with alcohol and twice having sexual intercourse with her in his bedroom.
Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC, for the applicant, told the court that while there was evidence the man knew the complainant was under 17 at the time of the assault, there was no evidence he knew she was under 15.
Without such evidence, a properly directed jury could not make a legitimate inference that the man knew the complainant was under 15 and thus could not return a safe verdict, he argued.
He said that the case should have been “thrown out” at the direction stage and that the trial judge failed to properly direct the jury on the “crucial matters” in the case.
Melanie Greally SC, for the State, told the court that evidence that the man believed the girl to be over 15 was pinned on one very small extract from a Garda interview, an interview which in all other respects was “exculpatory” and “self-serving”.
She said the man made a concerted effort to conceal the relationship he had with the complainant and that by getting her to run errands for him and buying her treats such as call credit for her mobile phone, it was clear he had related to her as a child.
Ms Greally said the fact the man had referred to the victim as “jail-bait” in a statement to gardaí pointed to a very definite appreciation for the position he had put himself in.
Mr Justice Liam McKechnie, sitting with Mr Justice Declan Budd and Mr Justice Daniel O’Keeffe, said the court would return a judgment before the end of the current court term.