Galway rapist Paul Cullinane will have his 10 1/2year sentence reviewed on March 21st by Mr Justice O Caoimh at the Central Criminal Court.
Cullinane (35), of Barry Avenue, Galway, was jailed on April 14th, 1997, by now retired Mr Justice Fergus Flood for the vicious rape of a schoolgirl on August 24th, 1993.
Cullinane lured the girl off a bus and tricked her into believing a friend had sent him to meet her. He then took her to his home and raped her. He had been jailed for six years in 1982 for raping another woman.
Mr Justice O Caoimh ruled he had jurisdiction to review the case following submissions by counsel for the prosecution and defence.
Mr Maurice Gaffney SC said it would have been open to the Director of Public Prosecutions to appeal the sentence, with its built-in review provision, but that had not been done.
The case had been reviewed already three times by Mr Justice Flood.
Mr Gaffney (with Mr Desmond Zaiden) said his study of the recent Supreme Court decision in the Finn case had dispelled any doubts he might have had about the jurisdiction of Mr Justice O Caoimh reviewing the case.
Mr Patrick MacEntee SC (with Ms Isobel Kennedy), defending, said it was also his submission that the court had jurisdiction under the Finn ruling to review Cullinane's case.