A warning of tougher sentences for child sex abusers was given in the Court of Appeal in Belfast yesterday. Lord Justice MacDermott said the message emerging from recent statistics was that a starting point of seven years for rape might no longer be appropriate.
He was delivering a judgment in the case of a 45-year-old man from north Belfast who appealed a 16-year sentence for repeated rape and indecent assaults on his daughter over a six-year period.
Dismissing his appeal yesterday, Lord Justice MacDermott said 16 years was clearly a severe sentence but the aggravating features in the case were grave and little could be said by way of mitigation.