Judge's leniency leads to calls for rape sentencing guidelines

THERE WERE fresh calls for sentencing guidelines to be introduced for judges in rape cases after a Waterford businessman was sentenced to five years in jail, with three years suspended, for the rape of a woman in 2006.

Billy Keogh (46), from Kilmeaden, Co Waterford, was sentenced on Wednesday for the rape of a 26-year-old prostitute, from Croatia, in a Cork hotel.

Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop, chief Executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre said the sentence would not encourage victims to come forward, while a spokeswoman for the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland (RCNI) said “the sentence is in our view lenient”.

Comments made by Mr Justice Barry White when imposing the sentence also caused concern. Mr Justice White described Keogh as “a man of good character” and also said he was impressed by how Keogh re-established himself after losing his business in 2004.

This message was of “grave concern”, the RCNI spokeswoman said. She added: “We hope the Director of Public Prosecutions will take a close look with a view to sending it to the Court of Criminal Appeal.”

A spokeswoman for Ruhama, an organisation working with women in prostitution, also expressed surprise at the manner of the sentencing.