A young Cork man has lost a High Court move to overturn his conviction for the statutory rape of a 14-year-old girl on grounds that he "honestly believed" the girl was aged 17.
The man was aged 23 at the time of the offence in October 2002. He was jailed for four years in December 2005 after pleading guilty in July 2004 to a charge of unlawful carnal knowledge of the girl. He had been arrested at his home on foot of a bench warrant in June 2005, having failed to attend a January 2005 sentence hearing.
After the Supreme Court in May 2006 struck down the 1935 law on statutory rape as unconstitutional, the man brought High Court proceedings arguing that the offence for which he was convicted was unknown in law and he was therefore unlawfully detained.
He later argued that he honestly believed at the time of the incident in 2002 that the girl was 17 years old. He said he had pleaded guilty in July 2004 after being advised, on the basis of the law as it then stood, that his belief about age had no legal relevance to the issue of pleading guilty or not guilty. He added that his honest belief was not considered highly relevant given that he had also admitted he thought the girl looked 14 or 15 years old.
In his judgment yesterday, Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill said that in a criminal prosecution where an accused did not seek to challenge the constitutionality of any relevant statute, the general principle is that the final decision in the case must be deemed to be, and to remain, lawful notwithstanding a later ruling that the relevant statute or law is unconstitutional, the judge said.
There could be an exception to that general principle only in the "most exceptional" circumstances. However, Mr Justice O'Neill said, the circumstances advanced by this man as exceptional fell "far short" of what was required to quash his conviction.