A CO Sligo man has lost his appeal against the severity of a life sentence imposed on him for the manslaughter of a 14-year-old girl.
Ronald Dunbar (47), aka Ronald McManus, was charged with the murder of Melissa Mahon between September 14th and 30th, 2006.
He denied the charge during a 25-day trial before the Central Criminal Court which ended with a jury verdict of manslaughter. Mr Justice Barry White imposed a life sentence.
The trial was told McManus had strangled the girl and dumped her body in a river in Co Sligo. Melissa had been in the care of the State, living voluntarily at a care home in Sligo.
The Court of Criminal Appeal, which previously ruled McManus’s conviction was safe and dismissed his claims he did not get a fair trial, yesterday rejected his appeal.
The three-judge appeal court, comprising Mrs Justice Fidelma Macken, presiding and sitting with Mr Justice Declan Budd and Mr Justice Daniel O’Keeffe, dismissed McManus’s claims that the sentence was unduly severe. Mr Justice White “had imposed an appropriate sentence”, the court ruled.
Delivering the judgment, Mrs Justice Macken said the sentencing judge had committed no error in principle in structuring the sentence in the manner he had. Mr Justice White was alert to the fact the imposition of a life sentence following a verdict of manslaughter is only appropriate in “rare and exceptional circumstances”, she said. Mr Justice White was “perfectly entitled” in this case, which involved “extremely serious” events and where there was an absence of any mitigating factors, to impose a life sentence.
Mrs Justice Macken noted Melissa was a young, “exceptionally vulnerable and fragile” girl aged 14 when she died. McManus, then aged 42, had set himself up as a father figure to Melissa and was a physically strong man who kept an interest in keeping fit.
In his appeal, McManus’s lawyers argued his sentence was unduly severe and should be set aside on grounds including that the trial judge had shown evidence of bias against McManus.