Longer sentences for repeat sex offenders
Brave victim to finally see ‘Debbie’s Law’ come in
REPEAT sex offenders will be put behind bars for longer jail terms under new legislation being adopted by ministers.
The Cabinet decided yesterday to adopt ‘Debbie’s Law,’ designed to keep rapists out of circulation in order to protect others.
Debbie Cole’s attacker was said to have ‘acted out of character’ – but when released from prison went on to sexually assault three other women.
The Government has agreed to take proposals from Independent Alliance junior minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran into a new Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill. Its provisions will be targeted at offenders who commit second and subsequent sexual offences within ten years.
Someone who re-offends will see their minimum period of imprisonment for the second offence set at three quarters of the maximum sentence. Where that maximum is a life sentence, the minimum will be ten years behind bars.
Mr Moran, who has championed the argument of Debbie, one of his constituents, said the law would now set out society’s abhorrence at repeat offending by serial sex offenders.
‘Debbie Cole and victims like her deserve great credit and huge respect for consistently highlighting the need for the Government to introduce stronger and effective sentences to deter such crimes,’ he said.
‘I am absolutely delighted that I have been in a position to effect change and the fact that this Bill is now being legislated for reflects the change that can be brought about by the Independent Alliance.’
Debbie Cole, 48, from Dublin, was raped at the age of 19 by Robert Melia.
Melia, 51, was jailed for six years in 1991 but went on to sexually assault other women in 1997. Over a one-month period, he raped three different women. He was eventually sentenced for the three rapes in 1999, to six years, but in 2012, he viciously assaulted Elizabeth Clifford.
He repeatedly threatened to kill her and tried to bite off her ear. The following year, he viciously assaulted and threatened to kill another woman, who had to jump out a hotel window to escape him. He was eventually sentenced in 2014 to four years in prison for the assault against Ms Clifford and then in 2015, he received a further sentence for the other assault.
Ms Cole has previously said that her attacker was transferred to the Central Mental Hospital after being jailed, and then sent her love letters ‘saying that although our relationship had started out on rocky ground, it could blossom’.
She said that a garda had called to her flat and told her this ‘young man was a lovely guy, came from a lovely family, and had never been in trouble before’. She said: ‘It was put to me that this was a mistake he had made with drink on him. It was something that was out of character.’ As a result, she petitioned the judge for mercy in his sentencing, yet he had gone on to reoffend after release.
Mr Moran said at a press conference organised last year: ‘I want to put these monsters behind bars for longer.’
Serial sex offenders typically ignored all rehabilitation efforts and were ‘a persistent public danger’ and menace to men, women and children,’ he said.
He raped three women in a month
THAT a minimum sentencing regime for repeat sex offenders has been agreed upon by the Cabinet at the instigation of junior minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran is to be welcomed. Once again it brings to public attention the whole issue of sentencing in this country.
As this newspaper’s Call This Justice? campaign has been highlighting for some time, one of the problems – and there are many when it comes to sentencing – lies in the lack of consistency in relation to minimum jail terms, and to the other penalties, that are handed down.
That our elected representatives have taken this latest initiative is a positive step and serves to illustrate the reality of the situation – that sentencing policy is established, after all, not by the judiciary but by the politicians who legislate through the offices of the Oireachtas.
And while the importance of addressing minimum sentencing in relation to sex crimes cannot be overstated, what we really need is an honest and open debate about sentencing in the main, and in relation to all kinds of crimes in our society, from the petty to the most grievous.
As we have said here on countless occasions in the past, sentencing in this country must be given more serious consideration, with those deliberations leading to more consistency and to overall reform of the existing system.
It is one thing to welcome this latest initiative, a drive that must now be afforded the support that it deserves. But what we must also now demand from Government, from those who have been elected to serve the interests of the people, is a root-and-branch overhaul of sentencing policy in general.
Our judiciary are there to enact the policies as laid down by our parliamentarians. It is our politicians, let’s not forget, who hold the key in this regard. It is imperative, therefore, they consider the bigger picture and address the sentencing issue – across the board – as a matter of urgency.