A 25-year-old Co Limerick man has been given a five-year sentence by the Central Criminal Court for raping his sister in 1996.
Mr Justice Carney suspended the final four years to take account of the strong wishes of the now 16year-old victim and her family. He said if the suspended portion of the sentence was reported without giving the reasons for him doing so, it would be a misrepresentation of the court proceedings.
The court heard that after the offence was reported by social workers, the victim was detained for three months in an adult psychiatric unit ward in which she was attacked by a male patient.
Mr Justice Carney thanked her for a six-page letter she sent some weeks ago to him in his chambers. He found it "very impressive" and was "heavily influenced" by its contents and her evidence in court in which she said a jail sentence would set all her therapeutic progress to date to naught.
The victim told him that her family had come to court united and she wanted them to return home united. "I do not wish to see my brother taken away in chains and not know when I might see him again." She now accepted fully she was a victim of the abuse.
Mr Justice Carney said it was his practice in these cases, which were very common now in the lists, to measure how much the crime was worth and impose a sentence of that duration before suspending a significant portion of it to take account of the wishes of the victim and family.
He had been persuaded in this case by Ms Maureen Clark SC, defending, to have the Court of Criminal Appeal examine the sentence and give him its opinion on his practice. He thereby granted a certificate for leave to appeal and remanded the defendant on continuing bail.
The defendant pleaded guilty to raping his sister and to sexually and indecently assaulting her on dates from when she was seven to 13 years old.