ANALYSIS:DAVID HEGARTY'S 13-year sentence, with 10 years' post-release supervision, falls within the parameters established by the courts for a rape which did not involve unusual violence, but where there had been previous similar convictions.
It also followed a decision of the Court of Criminal Appeal, involving a man called Gerard Kelly whose case resembled Hegarty’s in that he too had raped before.
Mr Justice Carney had imposed a life sentence on Kelly in January 2007 so that he “would not be able to do the same again”.
This was overturned by the Court of Criminal Appeal which ruled that while the circumstances of his crime were “very shocking”, the imposition of a life sentence for it amounted to an error in principle because the sexual assault by Kelly “was not of such an exceptional nature that it merited the imposition of a life sentence”.
It substituted a sentence of 16 years, with three suspended, and directed 10 years’ post-release supervision.
Yesterday Mr Justice Carney imposed a similar sentence on Hegarty.
This is not very different from a life sentence.
A person serving a life sentence comes before the Parole Board after seven or eight years to have the length he or she will serve assessed.
Often a person appears before the Parole Board at various intervals a number of times before being recommended for release. Some people never are.
The difference between this and a specific custodial sentence is that when the sentence, less the 25 per cent statutory remission, is served, the person is released.
As has happened in this case, they may be subject to post-release supervision. With a life sentence, one of the factors taken into account is the danger the person still poses to the public.
In November 2007 Mr Justice Charleton used the occasion of imposing a sentence for rape to review the sentences imposed by the higher courts, and the degrees of gravity of the sexual offences for which they were imposed.
Looking at 22 cases where sentences of between nine and 15 years were imposed, he found that they usually involved a number of counts, previous convictions of a similar nature, or unusual violence or humiliation.
A further 22 cases attracted sentences between 15 years and life, and they concerned either an incident that lasted a considerable number of hours, gang rapes, or multiple incidents, multiple victims, or both.
The Hegarty sentence falls within these parameters.