NIAMH NÍ DHOMHNAIL – the 28-year-old woman who waived her anonymity, after her rapist ex-boyfriend was given a suspended sentence – has said she’s yet to hear anything from the DPP about a possible appeal in the case.
Norwegian Magnus Meyer Hustveit (25) pleaded guilty to one count of rape and one count of sexual assault between 2011 and 2012.
He was given a sentence of seven years on Monday at the Central Criminal Court, but judge Patrick McCarthy suspended the entire term.
Ní Dhomhnaill took to the airwaves earlier this week, issuing an impassioned condemnation of the leniency shown to her former boyfriend in the sentencing.
Speaking today, she said she had not heard from the Director of Public Prosecutions since Monday.
“There’s been no-one in touch with me to kind of even give me a heads up on what’s happening,” she told RTÉ’s Ray D’Arcy.
I’m left not knowing anything – and you start to wonder ‘am I damaging a potential appeal by being public’?
She said she had previously had problems accessing information from the DPP – and that when she had called asking when her case would be in court, she was told she would have to write in to find out the information.
The experience had been “incredibly upsetting” she said.
Speaking on the same programme, Ellen O’Malley Dunlop of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre said that the upcoming Victims of Crime Bill should address such information problems – but conceded the planned new laws had come too late for Niamh.
How does an appeal work?
The DPP can ask the Court of Criminal Appeal to review a sentence in grounds of unduely leniency.
A review must be asked for within 28 days of the judge handing down the sentence – but in some cases, the DPP can apply for more time.
The Appeal Court will only increase the sentence if they think the trial judge was wrong in law in giving such a light sentence.
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