The Court of Criminal Appeal has reserved judgment on an appeal by Vincent McKenna against his conviction of sexually assaulting his eldest daughter between 1985 and 1993. McKenna is a former leader of the group, Families Against Intimidation and Terror, and founder of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Bureau.
The three-judge court deferred hearing submissions on an appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions against the three-year sentence imposed on McKenna following his conviction. The DPP is arguing the sentence was unduly lenient. McKenna was sentenced by Judge Matt Deery at Monaghan Circuit Court in November 2000. The judge described the 19 offences of indecent assault and 12 offences of sexual assault perpetrated against McKenna's eldest daughter, Sorcha, as continuous abuse, nearly routine.
The trial judge had commended Ms McKenna for pursuing the matter and speaking out. She had requested that her anonymity be lifted to speak out and, in victim impact reports, she said she wanted to encourage others who were being abused to speak out also. The judge said it was a difficult case as McKenna had denied the charges and the trial had been a difficult and traumatic time for his daughter. Monaghan Circuit Court had imposed a three-year sentence on each of the counts but ordered the sentences to run concurrently.
McKenna had been associated with the Families Against Intimidation in Northern Ireland. The trial judge said he had taken a stand and spoke out for a group of people taken to back alleys and knee-capped and told to leave the jurisdiction, often under the threat of death. Among the grounds of appeal submitted on behalf of McKenna yesterday were claims that the trial judge erred in certain parts of his charge to the jury. It was also argued a "memory recovery" procedure used to assist Ms McKenna was flawed. The claims were opposed on behalf of the DPP and it was denied that regression therapy had been used by Ms McKenna to recall the abuse.
Mr Justice Geoghegan, presiding, sitting with Ms Justice Carroll and Mr Justice O'Neill, after hearing submissions from Mr Michael O'Higgins SC, for McKenna, and Mr Peter Charleton SC, for the DPP, said the court would reserve judgment on the appeal against conviction. The DPP's appeal on the sentence would be left over until after the court had given judgment on the conviction, the judge said.