Lawyers for the former nun sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday for the rape of a 10-year-old girl are expected to make an application to the Court of Criminal Appeal next week.
At the Central Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday the judge said Nora Wall - formerly Sister Dominic of the Sisters of Mercy - and Paul McCabe carried out a "gang rape" of their victim, Regina Walsh.
The court had heard that Nora Wall held down the girl's legs while "Pablo" McCabe raped her.
He was sentenced to 12 years in jail for the offence, which happened at the childcare centre where the nun worked as administrator, on an unknown date in 1987 or 1988. The jury had acquitted the accused of a second charge of raping the girl on a date in January 1990.
Sentencing the two, Judge Carney said the child was in the care of the nun at St Michael's Child Care Centre in Cappoquin, Co Waterford.
"This was a gang rape," he said. "The leader of the gang was the only person in the world who was charged with the protection of Regina Walsh. I don't think I need to say more than that."
Nora Wall stared straight ahead on hearing the sentence, Paul "Pablo" McCabe, her fellow accused, appeared detached and uncertain about what was happening. It took Supt Michael Blake nearly 10 minutes to read out his criminal history - it spanned 30 years and included chronic assault, petty thieving, indecent exposure, as well as alcohol and substance abuse. Nora Wall had no previous convictions.
In the back of the court the former nun's brothers and sisters turned to each other in disbelief at the severity of her sentence.
"We believe our sister is an honest person and she is not guilty," one relative said. Earlier the court was told by Nora Wall's defence counsel that there had been a failure by the prosecution to disclose potentially significant evidence. Mr Hugh Hartnett SC said the defence had "stumbled" on the potential evidence in a newspaper interview.
In the interview, he said, Ms Walsh alleged that she had been raped by another man in London. Also subsequent to the trial, one of Wall's brothers was approached by another man who said he had been the victim of a false allegation of sexual assault brought by a corroborative witness in the case.
The defence counsel sought an adjournment so that further inquiries could be made, but a lawyer for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said he was strenuously opposed to the application and did not accept that there had not been full disclosure. Judge Carney said he had no jurisdiction other than to give effect to the jury's verdict.
In a statement yesterday the Sisters of Mercy called for an independent inquiry into the "serious and destructive events" which occurred at St Michael's.