A law lecturer has defended Mr Justice Carney over his criticism of the DPP as "trigger-happy" in appealing sentences Mr Justice Carney had handed down in rape cases.
Mr Tom O'Malley, a lecturer at NUI Galway and author of a recently published book, Sentence Law And Practice, said yesterday that he had "some sympathy" with the judge, who criticised the DPP in open court on Monday.
"The Director of Public Prosecutions is very trigger-happy about appealing my alleged undue leniency in sentencing. I would rather you say anything about it to my face rather than behind my back in another place," said Mr Justice Carney.
He had just sentenced a Co Louth man to five years at the Central Criminal Court for raping his former girlfriend.
According to Mr O'Malley, the 1993 statute enabling the prosecution to appeal sentences is currently being used more than was originally envisaged. The statute was introduced after the Kilkenny incest and Lavinia Kerwick rape cases, over both of which Mr Justice Carney presided.
"The idea behind the statute was that it was to be reserved for exceptional cases. But earlier this year there sometimes appeared to be more than one a week coming before the Court of Criminal Appeal," said Mr O'Malley.
"It would be far better if the prosecution registered some form of submission on the sentence with the trial judge rather than sitting silent, which largely occurs."
He said the statute, which also introduced victim impact statements and compensation by offenders, should be reviewed as the role of the victim and the motivation behind the DPP's appeals needed to be examined.
The director of the Rape Crisis Centre, Ms Olive Braiden, said the centre would always be "vociferous" in its comments on lenient sentences for rape and sexual abuse.
She stressed that the basic flaw in the system in relation to sex cases was that victims were not permitted to have their own independent legal representation for the duration of trials and instead acted as chief witness for the State.
"If victims had their own representation they would have a right to appeal through their own counsel," she said.
Ms Braiden yesterday described Mr Justice Carney as one of the most experienced judges in dealing with sex cases. "We acknowledge how seriously he treats all cases before him," she added. It is estimated that 80 per cent of the cases that come before Mr Justice Carney are rape cases.
In 1995 he issued two groundbreaking judgments, one by giving the facts in a murder case in which the accused had pleaded guilty. In a separate case he gave his reasons for not imposing a life sentence in a child-rape case.
In 1997 he sentenced a steward at Knock shrine to 17 years for a "reign of terror" of rape and sexual abuse of his adopted daughter.