Rape appeal wait for victim Mary
Tuesday June 12 2007
RAPE victim Mary Shannon (above) must wait to find out whether the man who put her through hell will get a tougher jail sentence.
The deaf mother-of-three from Co Clare came to the Court of Criminal Appeal in Dublin yesterday to hear lawyers for the State argue that her neighbour Adam Keane (20) had received an unduly lenient term.
Keane raped Ms Shannon as she slept in her bed in Daragh, Co Clare.
He was high on drink and ecstasy and got into the home through the open back door.
In March, Keane was given a suspended three-year sentence. He was later locked up for flicking a cigarette butt at his victim hours after he had walked free from court.
Mr Justice Paul Carney, the trial judge, activated the sentence after hearing about the incident, branding it a triumphalist gesture.
But the DPP has appealed the three years in jail, insisting it is unduly lenient. The three-court appeal court reserved judgment.
It did not indicate when it would give judgment.
Counsel for the State, Pauline Whalley, told the court a suspended sentence for rape was "a fairly substantial departure" from the norm. And she said the sentence had "enormous implications for other cases".
Ms Whalley added: "The three years is very lenient, it is exceedingly lenient. The question is, is it unduly lenient?"
