Man who raped grandaughters fails in appeal against his 15 year sentence

An 88 year old Donegal man, who used viagra on occasion to rape his five granddaughters has failed in an appeal against the severity of his 15-year sentence.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had pleaded guilty to 45 sample counts of rape, indecent assault, sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault at various locations in the community where he lived between July 1993 and September 2009.
He was sentenced to 15 years, with three years suspended,  last November.
Today at the Court of Criminal Appeal  his lawyers  argued that the 15-year sentence was too severe given his age and poor heath.
But Ms Justice Fidelma Macken found that the sentence imposed and the suspended element of that sentence was “wholly acceptable” and refused his appeal.