Alleged IRA man seeks time to appeal conviction

AN alleged IRA man who was jailed for raping teenage boys at a “republican safe house” over two decades ago is to seek more time to lodge an appeal against his conviction.

Passing sentence at the Central Criminal Court in May 2019, Mr Justice Paul McDermott said that Belfast native Seamus Marley used his standing in the republican movement, a movement “well capable of clandestine killings”, to silence his victims.

The 46-year-old, with a last address at Belfield Court, Stillorgan Road, in Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting and anally raping the two boys in Co. Louth on dates in the early 1990s.

He was unanimously found guilty on six counts of sexual assault and two counts of rape by a Central Criminal Court jury, following a six-day trial, and was given concurrent seven year and six year sentences by the judge.

The alleged IRA man had filed for an appeal against his conviction outside of the required 28-day period in which to lodge an appeal. A defendant normally has 28 days from the date of their sentence to file a notice of their intent to appeal.

Counsel for Marley, Michael Bowman SC, applied to the Court of Appeal for a date to hear the application for an extension of time so the case can go to full hearing.

Patrick Gageby SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), told the court that the State would contest the application and the hearing would last 30 minutes.

President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham set June 25 next as the date for hearing of the motion to extend time.