A man convicted of the “systematic and calculated” sexual abuse of his stepdaughters has had his jail term more than doubled in line with new sentencing guidance, after the Court of Appeal ruled his original four-year sentence did not meet the seriousness of the offences.
Ms Justice Tara Burns said on Thursday that the gravity of the offending by Gerard Nevin (42) was of a very serious nature, as she increased his original four-year prison sentence to 10 years.
The resentencing comes after the Court of Appeal last month issued new sentencing guidance for sexual assault offences, following an appeal by the State which argued that the jail term handed down to Nevin for the abuse of his stepdaughters from when they were aged seven and eight should be increased.
Nevin, of Grove Park, Rathmines, Dublin 6, had pleaded guilty to 22 counts of sexual assault committed between 2012 and June 2020 at various locations in Clondalkin, Lucan and Palmerstown.
RM Block
The victims were Nevin’s stepdaughters, Catalina Grancea and Alexa Grancea, who indicated they wished to waive their right to anonymity to allow Nevin to be named.
The sentencing court heard that Nevin abused Catalina Grancea when she was aged between eight and 16 years old. Alexa Grancea was aged between seven and 15 when the abuse occurred.
In November 2024, Judge Sinéad Ní Chúlacháin imposed a global sentence of six years on Nevin, with the final two years suspended.
In resentencing Nevin, Ms Justice Burns noted that one of the victims required medical assistance on one occasion for bruising sustained during the sexual assaults.
Expressing the court’s view that the relationship between Nevin and the injured parties was a very concerning matter, Ms Justice Burns said that the offending fell into the higher level, which required a headline sentence of nine years for his offences against each of his stepdaughters.
Reducing each of these nine-year sentences by two years, Ms Justice Burns said it was the court’s view that these should run consecutively. To reflect the totality principle, she said the court would reduce each sentence by a further year.
Ms Justice Burns imposed a 12-year term of imprisonment, with the final two years suspended on certain terms and conditions, including that Nevin remain under the supervision of probation services and engage in offence and victim focused work.
At a previous undue leniency appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Caroline Latham BL had argued that the reduction to the original headline sentence of almost 30 per cent – from nine to six years – was too high, given the age of the victims at the time and the prolonged nature of the offending.
“The sexual abuse was systematic and calculated and greatly damaged the lives of the victims,” said Ms Latham.
In delivering the court’s ruling last month on this undue leniency application, Mr Justice Peter Charleton said that new sentencing guidelines placed Nevin’s abuse in the “upper range of offending”, with a headline sentence to be set between nine and 14 years.
Setting out lengthy principles for sentencing, Mr Justice Charleton said this case involved repeated offences against girls who were young, vulnerable and dependent. He said from the victim impact statements, the court found the harm done was “at the upper end of the spectrum” for this form of sexual violence.
He said that “on no assessment could the medium band of three to six years be considered appropriate” for sentencing in this case.
