An eight-year sentence imposed on a former priest for sexually abusing his three sisters in their south Dublin family home has been increased to 14 years in what the sisters hailed as “a landmark outcome”.
The Court of Appeal imposed the higher term on Richard Brennan after granting an appeal by the DPP arguing the original sentence was “unduly lenient”.
That sentence was imposed by Judge David Keane at the Central Criminal Court in July 2025 on Brennan (64), a former priest, for 24 offences, including raping his sisters Paula Fay and Catherine Wrightstone when they were minors, and indecently assaulting his sister Yvonne Crist when she was aged 20.
Judge Isobel Kennedy, giving the three-judge appeal court’s decision on Friday, said this was offending of an “extremely grave” nature, involving prolonged abuse over years, repeated rape of Wrightstone and Fay, the exploitation of vulnerable children, a “profound breach of familial trust” and “devastating consequences” for each victim.
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There were multiple aggravating factors, she said.
The court concluded the original headline sentences of 12 and 10 years for the rape offences did not adequately reflect the gravity of the offending, and that too much weight had been placed upon mitigatory factors, including Brennan’s “very late” plea of guilty and letter of remorse during the trial.
It ruled the appropriate headline sentences for the rapes of Wrightstone and Fay were 16 and 13 years.
Taking into account factors including that Brennan had had a difficult home environment and upbringing, his health issues, probation and prison governor reports, late guilty plea and letter of remorse, it reduced those sentences to 14 and 11 years respectively, making a global sentence of 14 years.
All three sisters had voiced “deep disappointment” over the original sentence.
Fay and Wrightstone were in court on Friday. Outside court, Wrightstone said Crist could not attend, but shared her sisters’ positive feelings about the outcome. “I only wish our youngest sister Sinéad could have lived to see this outcome.”
She and Fay welcomed the substantial increase in sentence and stressed to other survivors that there is support for them.
Wrightstone paid tribute to other survivors, including Lavinia Kerwick, whose case had led to a “historic legislative change”, empowering the DPP to appeal sentences on grounds of “undue leniency”, and to survivors having the opportunity to give victim impact statements.
It is “disheartening” that, despite efforts over years to reform laws for survivors, “little progress seems to occur”, she said.
She had written to the Minister for Justice last April setting out eight specific changes she would like to see, she said, but had not received a substantive response or been granted a meeting.
“I wish those in positions of power would actually listen to survivors and take action towards meaningful change.”
Fay described the court decision as a “landmark outcome” and “a profound moment of justice and vindication”.
The original sentence had felt like “a second injustice” and failed to reflect “the devastating, lifelong impact of the abuse inflicted upon me”, she said.
“By recognising the immense scale of Richard’s offending, the court has affirmed that sexual abuse within a family will not be minimised, and the survivors will be heard, no matter how many years have passed.”
The offences were committed in the family home in Rathfarnham when Brennan was aged between 16 and 24. They included four offences of rape against Fay and two of rape against Wrightstone.
Fay was aged 13 when she woke to find her brother, then aged 16, in her bed lifting her nightdress, telling her he needed her to do him “a favour” because he would be unable to have sex when he became a priest, the trial heard.
Wrightstone said his sexual abuse of her began on her ninth birthday and continued until she was 14. He was aged between 19 and 24 at the time.
He admitted indecent assault of Crist when she was aged 20 and he was 18. She woke in bed to find him naked on top of her looking for sex. He left after she grabbed a phone, saying she would call gardaí.
Brennan was ordained a Catholic priest in 1989 but left the priesthood in 1992 after meeting his future wife in the US.
Senior counsel John Byrne, for Brennan, had previously said his client grew up in a “somewhat chaotic” and violent family home and was naturalised into deviant sexual behaviour from an early age by his older brother Bernard.
Bernard Brennan (67) was previously jailed for four and a half years after pleading guilty to 11 counts of indecent assault against Fay and Crist on dates between 1972 and 1975. Fay was aged seven and Crist was 13 when he first abused them.
