Tommy Dominguez successfully appeals sentence at the Court of Appeal for sexual offending

Tommy Dominguez, having been granted leave by the Single Judge, successfully appealed a sentence of six years imprisonment and an extended licence period of six years for sexual offending at the Court of Appeal.

Tommy represented the Appellant in appealing a sentence of six years’ imprisonment with a six-year extended licence period imposed in respect of sexual offending. Tommy’s submissions focused on the sentencing judge’s failure to take into account the fact that the offending was an attempt with the Appellant voluntarily desisting.

The Single Judge granted leave, commending Mr Dominguez’s meticulous examination of the sentence. The Court reaffirmed the importance of the sentencing guidelines for the offence of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, stressing the need for judges in section 10 cases where activity is incited but does not take place to apply a downward adjustment at step two to reflect the fact that no harm actually resulted.

Tommy further submitted that the fact that the Appellant voluntarily desisted at any early stage should have carried a greater reduction. Accordingly, a proper application of the Sentencing Guidelines, he argued, would have resulted in a sentence that fell below the notional sentence of nine years’ imprisonment that the Sentencing Judge arrived at. The Court agreed that the notional sentence before credit arrived at by the Sentence Judge was manifestly excessive, and that a notional sentence of seven-and-a-half years’ imprisonment before credit would have struck the appropriate balance in this case. 

Accordingly, the Court quashed the original sentence of six years’ imprisonment with a six-year extended licence, substituting an extended sentence of five years imprisonment with the extended license period remaining in place.

Tommy was instructed by Paul Block of Levy & Co Solicitors.