Pervert jailed for sex with 14-year-old girl loses his appeal against conviction
A BELFAST man jailed for having sex with a 14-year-old girl he met at an Eleventh Night bonfire has failed in a bid to overturn his conviction.
Judges in the Court of Appeal rejected claims the guilty verdict returned against Stephen Meneice was rendered unsafe by issues during the trial.
The 41-year-old, from Thompson House on the city’s Antrim Road, is serving a three-and-ahalf year prison sentence.
In May last year a jury at Belfast Crown Court found him guilty of nine sexual offences against a child under the age of 16.
The offences were committed between July and September in 2012.
The court heard Meneice met the girl at an Eleventh Night bonfire during a period when she was having difficulties at home.
He was said to have groomed her with cigarettes, alcohol and other gifts, as well as giving her lifts in his car and lavishing attention upon her.
Sexual intercourse allegedly occurred between them regularly.
Meneice’s crimes were said to have emerged when the victim told her father about the relationship and he alerted police.
The girl initially claimed there had only been one occasion of sexual activity, but in a later interview she made further allegations.
Lawyers for Meneice centred their appeal on the warning given to the jury about how the girl initially denied there had more than a single incident. However, the Court of Appeal found no suggestion that the trial judge failed to take into account any lies and inconsistencies in her evidence.
In a ruling, it said: “The trial judge is always in a much better position to form a view about what is required in the circumstances of the particular case.
“We find no basis upon which to interfere with the exercise of his discretion in this case.”
Criticisms of the prosecution’s closing speech which formed another part of the challenge were also rejected.
Dismissing Meneice’s appeal, the court held some language used had been “extremely colourful” and inappropriate, but did not render the conviction unsafe.
❝ Meneice met her at a bonfire when she was having home difficulties