Court of Appeal reserves decision in sleep rape appeal

The Court of Appeal has reserved its decision on the appeal by the DPP against the leniency of a seven-year suspended sentence imposed on a man who repeatedly raped his girlfriend while she slept.

The Director of Public Prosecutions had asked the Court to find a suspended sentence imposed on Magnus Meyer Hustveit, who regularly raped and sexually assaulted his girlfriend in her sleep, was unduly lenient.

The 26-year-old was sentenced to seven years in July 2015 after pleading guilty to one count of rape and one count of sexual assault of a 28-year-old woman in Dublin between 2011 and 2012.

However Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy suspended the entire prison sentence after saying it was a very exceptional case.

Hustveit, a Norwegian man with a previous address at Leo Street, North Circular Road in Dublin, sent an email to his former partner, Niamh Ní Dhomhnaill, and told her he had been using her body for his "gratification" for nearly a year.

Ms Ní Dhomhnaill waived her right to anonymity to allow Hustveit to be named.

Mr Justice George Birmingham, who sat with Mr Justice Alan Mahon and Mr Justice John Edwards, said the court would reserve judgment.

Judge Birmingham said the court appreciated that hearings such as this caused stress for everybody. 

He said Hustveit's status - who was present in court for the hearing - remained unchanged but that should not be taken as any hint or indication one way or another as to the likely outcome of the appeal.

The court will give its decision on 15 March.

Unusually, Hustveit was allowed to leave the Criminal Courts by a back entrance, avoiding the waiting media.

A garda spokesperson said such matters are assessed on a case-by-case basis and said it would not be appropriate to comment on individual incidents.

He said An Garda Síochána was fully committed to supporting victims of crime and placing them at the heart of the garda service.

Trial judge said he had to consider confession

At the sentence hearing, Judge McCarthy said he had to consider the fact that there would be no rational case but for the confessions of the accused. 

The judge said the case had come to court out of Hustveit's own mouth. 

He said in over three decades on the bench he had never come across a case like this.

Prosecuting counsel, Mary Rose Gearty, told the court the case involved multiple rapes and regular sexual assaults.   

She said the DPP's view was that the suspension of the entire seven year sentence was unduly lenient.

She said although Hustveit had claimed to be full of remorse - he was not remorseful in the eyes of Ms Ní Dhomhnaill.   

Ms Gearty said it had been suggested that Ms Ní Dhomhnaill had lied about what happened to her and when her symptoms began.

She said the sentencing judge accepted the very serious nature of the offences, the effect on Ms Ní Dhomhnaill and the extraordinary betrayal of trust. 

But she said he fell down by deciding that because the conviction came out of the accused's own mouth, this had the effect of eradicating a custodial sentence for one of the most serious offences on the statute book.

She said the court should be aware of the message the suspended sentence sent out to others in Ms Ní Dhomhnaill's position or the message to people in the convicted man's position about what society says about this kind of behaviour.

Lawyers for Hustveit said the judge in the trial was entirely aware of the law in relation to rape.  

Senior Counsel, Caroline Biggs said the case was very complex. She said her client had openly provided the information that led to this prosecution.  

He had put his own interests aside in writing the email.   

She said this case was wholly exceptional because of the exceptional circumstances which came from the convicted man himself. He had provided an explanation of the offences in his email. 

The offences occurred when he was very young. 

She said he had gone back to Norway, removed himself from the environment was in and all the indications from psychologists' reports in Norway that he posed no risk to society.  

She said the fact that there were multiple rapes over a period of time did not preclude a suspended sentence.