THE COURT of Criminal Appeal has reduced to three years the jail sentence imposed on a Dublin man who had falsely accused a priest of child sexual abuse.
The appeal court yesterday ruled that the sentencing judge, when imposing a four-year term on Paul Anderson (34), had erred in not fully taking into account that Anderson suffered from medical problems and that this was his first offence.
In those circumstances, the appeal court replaced the sentence with a three-year term.
Anderson, Crumlin Park, Crumlin, Dublin, was convicted last June and jailed by Judge Patricia Ryan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
He had denied making a false accusation to a detective garda at Kevin Street Garda station on June 18th, 2003, to the effect that acts of indecent assault and buggery were committed on him by a priest between February and May 1981.
The three-judge appeal court, with Mr Justice Nial Fennelly presiding and sitting with Mr Justice Brian McGovern and Mr Justice George Birmingham, had rejected Anderson’s appeal against conviction.
However, the judges allowed his appeal against the severity of sentence. Mr Justice Fennelly said the court was satisfied that Judge Ryan had erred by not fully taking Anderson’s circumstances into account. The appeal court dismissed arguments that Judge Ryan was not entitled to hear evidence about the impact on the victim of the false allegations.
In his victim impact statement, the priest said he would have preferred to have been shot through the head than to go through what he had.