Courts / Sligo / Report
Former GAA coach has jail sentence for indecently assaulting schoolboys cut on appeal
Summary
A former Gaelic football coach from Cloonloo, County Sligo, has had his prison sentence reduced on appeal following convictions for indecent assaults on young boys. Ronan McCormack, aged 75, was found guilty by jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of 14 counts of indecently assaulting two boys aged between seven and 13 at various locations between June 1972 and March 1975. He had previously received a five-year-and-ten-month sentence in 2014 for separate offences committed in the 1980s. The Circuit Court judge imposed a seven-year consecutive sentence for the earlier offences. The Court of Appeal, sitting today, determined that the aggregate sentence across both sets of convictions was excessive and disproportionate. The three-judge court reduced the sentence for the present offences from seven to four years, finding this more compatible with sentencing principles and taking account of McCormack's age and health.
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: Former GAA coach has jail sentence for indecently assaulting schoolboys cut on appeal. Procedural stage: appeal
When:
- June 1972 Hearing Or Sentence
- March 1975 Hearing Or Sentence
- 2018-01-22 Publication
Case subjects
Convicted Person
Outcome: McCormack successfully appealed his sentence today, with the Court of Appeal holding that his aggregate sentence for both sets of offences was excessive, disproportionate and not compatible with the totality principle. Mr Gageby referred to an Irish Penal Reform Trust report on "the fear of dying in prison" before adding that the Circuit Court judge imposed a severe sentence on McCormack when he was approaching the end of his life.
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