The Court of Criminal Appeal has suspended the final two years of an eight-year sentence imposed on a retired bank manager, described as a "pillar of society", for the sexual assault of his wife's five young nieces.
The man, who is in his 60s, had pleaded guilty to 64 sample charges of indecent and sexual assault relating to the five victims. The balance of the 100 charges on the indictment was also taken into consideration.
Giving judgment on the man's appeal against severity of sentence, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, with Mr Justice Declan Budd and Mr Justice John McMenamin, said a number of criticisms of the trial judge (in relation to sentencing) had been made, most of which the court had no difficulty in rejecting.
While the court was satisfied that consecutive sentences were appropriate, it believed there was an error in principle in the approach of the trial judge, Mr Justice Kearns said. The trial judge appeared to have paid no regard to the evidence concerning the poor health of the accused. He also did not give any significance to the accused's age and to the fact that a long number of years had intervened between the events and the trial.