Rape Crisis supports sentence appeal

Rape Crisis welcomed moves today by the Solicitor General to appeal the sentence of six years to Dr Morgan Fahey.

"It is hard to imagine what length of sentence may seem reasonable to any of the survivors of Dr Fahey's abuse - six years seems paltry compared to what they have suffered,"said Claire Benson, National Spokeswoman of Rape Crisis.

In the past Rape Crisis have protested against low sentences awarded to sex offenders.

"In 1998 a man was sentenced to 2 years for unlawful sexual connection with a 10 year old girl - the maximum sentence for unlawful sexual connection is 20 years. We protested about that case to the then Minister of Justice, the Hon. Tony Ryall, however we saw no action," said Ms Benson. "This appeal today shows that the Solicitor General and the Government are taking a very serious view of the impact of Dr Fahey's offending."

Rape Crisis also believes that Dr Fahey should attend a sex offenders programme while in prison.

"The reality is that prison is not hugely effective - rather than just locking people up we need to address their attidtudes that it is okay to sexually abuse. We have heard that the current sex offender programmes do not deal adequately with those who attack adult women," said Ms Benson. "If that is the case, then we need to develop programmes that do work in this area, and we need to make these programmes widely available."

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For further comment contact:

Claire Benson National Spokeswoman Rape Crisis 021 684 227 04 384 7028

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