2015-11-13
Man jailed for 18 months for carrying on sexual relationship with his step-sister
Stage: Sentence
Plea: Guilty
Outcome: He noted there was no force involved in the sexual activity but that the girl was unable to give consent because of her age. "Mr Ward is well capable of leading a good and useful life but I must punish him for what he did," the judge said, adding that it might be open to him to impose a non-custodial sentence if the sex had stopped when the Ward was 16 or 17. "But he continued after that when he must have known that what he was doing was grossly reprehensible and extremely wrong." Judge Nolan imposed a four year sentence with the final two and a half suspended.