Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Perv student nurse sent to jail after PPS appeal
Judge agrees sentence too lenient
AN ex-nursing student convicted of sex assaults will go to jail on Monday after his community sentence was deemed “unduly lenient”.
Simon Cash, 23, from Donaghadee, Co Down, attended the Court of Appeal in Belfast yesterday with his parents.
He had been convicted of sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman in Bangor in December 2018 and footage of him targeting his victim in a taxi was captured on CCTV. The footage was studied privately by the appeal judges but they declined to play it in court in front of the woman and her family.
In January this year Cash was given 100 hours community service, three years probation and placed on the sex offenders register.
However, the Public Prosecution
Service referred the case back to the Court of Appeal, claiming an unduly lenient sentence was handed down.
Lawyer Liam Mccollum argued the starting point should have been two years imprisonment, before taking account of any aggravating or mitigating factors.
Lord Justice Treacy said: “There’s
APPEAL COURT YESTERDAY
something very predatory about approaching someone asleep or under the influence of drink. There’s a degree of premeditation, the reason the victim is selected is the [perpetrator] thinks they can get away with it because of the state that person is in.”
Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan confirmed a substitute 18-month sentence, split between half in custody and half on licence. Cash was directed to appear at prison by 10am on Monday.