{"id":439142,"date":"2026-05-08T19:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T19:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/439142\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T19:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T19:04:09","slug":"gang-rapists-who-targeted-teen-claim-they-deserve-shorter-sentences-as-they-were-young","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/439142\/","title":{"rendered":"Gang rapists who targeted teen claim they deserve shorter sentences as they were young"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lawyers for three men who \u201ctargeted\u201d a vulnerable teenager and lured her into a car before driving her to Dollymount Strand, where they gang raped her, have argued that they should have received shorter sentences because of their youth at the time.<\/p>\n

Dion Genockey, Daryl Rooney and Troy Ryan were aged 17 and when they drove the then 18-year-old victim, who had grown up in care, to the end of a wooden bridge at the strand, where they took turns raping her before abandoning her in a \u201cdark and lonely place\u201d three quarters of a kilometre from the main road.<\/p>\n

Genockey (27) of Clarion Quay Apartments, Rooney (28) of Railway Street and Ryan (27) of Lower Gardiner Street, all in Dublin City Centre, raped the woman at Bull Island, Dollymount, Dublin, on January 5, 2016. They were each convicted of rape following a second trial at the Central Criminal Court in March 2022.<\/p>\n

The jury in the first trial, which was held in 2020, was unable to reach a verdict.<\/p>\n

Genockey was sentenced to nine years by Judge David Keane, while Ryan was sentenced to nine and a half years, and Rooney was jailed for ten years.<\/p>\n

The sentencing court heard none of the men accepted the verdict of the jury and maintained their innocence.<\/p>\n

Opening an appeal against the sentence on Friday, Genockey\u2019s senior counsel, Thomas O\u2019Malley argued the headline sentence of 15 years set by the trial judge was too high.<\/p>\n

He also contended the reduction given to the initial headline term was inadequate given the mitigating factors, including his client\u2019s youth, good work record, supportive family and lack of previous offending.<\/p>\n

He noted aggravating factors included that it was a gang rape and that the victim was left at the scene. However, he said in his client\u2019s case the act itself wasn\u2019t accompanied by other aggravating factors such as \u201cdegradation or violence\u201d.<\/p>\n

He argued a headline sentence of 12 to 13 years would have been appropriate.<\/p>\n

Counsel said the judge had given a discount of one-third to the headline sentence after mitigation, but argued, \u201che could have given more\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said a body of knowledge developed over the past number of years, suggesting that those under the age of 18 who commit offences are less deserving of punishment than an adult for several reasons, including their lack of capacity to think through their actions and the fact that they are \u201cmore susceptible to peer pressure\u201d.<\/p>\n

Judge Nuala Butler said there was no evidence of immaturity in Genockey\u2019s case, noting he had made a decision to leave school early, had started a successful business and had a supportive family. She questioned what evidence there was of immaturity \u201cother than his date of birth\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Malley said those who commit offences while under the age of 18 who are sentenced as an adult \u201care categorically entitled to some reduction\u201d.<\/p>\n

Counsel argued that the fact his client was a hard worker, had a good family background and was the parent of a young child were all factors that \u201cwould go to his credit\u201d and questioned whether there had been a \u201csufficient reduction for these other factors\u201d.<\/p>\n

Cognitive impairment factors<\/p>\n

Seoirse \u00d3 D\u00fanlaing SC, representing Rooney, said he adopted Mr O\u2019Malley\u2019s submissions.<\/p>\n

He also argued the judge was wrong not to consider suspending any portion of his client\u2019s sentence.<\/p>\n

He noted the judge had acknowledged cognitive impairment factors in Rooney\u2019s case. The barrister argued this reduced his client\u2019s culpability \u201cto some extent\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said there was \u201csome mitigation\u201d which he accepted \u201conly goes so far\u201d. There was \u201csome basis for a very limited suspension\u201d of a finite period, Mr \u00d3 D\u00fanlaing said.<\/p>\n

John Berry SC, for Ryan, said he also wished to adopt his colleagues\u2019 submissions.<\/p>\n

He said in this case, there was a \u201ccumulative effect\u201d because the headline term, had the defendants been adults, was \u201cat the top end\u201d and the discount for \u201ca child\u2019s lack of maturity\u201d was at the lowest level, leading to a headline sentence that was too high.<\/p>\n

Addressing the question of rehabilitation and the possibility of suspending a portion of his client\u2019s sentence, Mr Berry acknowledged that the non-acceptance of guilt was \u201ca massive difficulty\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, he said the court must not lose sight of the fact that his client was aged 17 years and 7 months at the time.<\/p>\n

Mr Berry said there was a basis for a situation where a court should consider suspending some portion of the sentence \u201cfor societal good\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cChild offenders are recognised as having a far greater interest in rehabilitation than other offenders because they are not fully developed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Counsel suggested the judge had made an error because of the \u201copposed positions\u201d of on the one hand saying \u201cyou can\u2019t have a suspended sentence because it\u2019s impossible to rehabilitate you\u201d and on the other imposing a two-year post-supervision order to \u201cincentivize rehabilitation\u201d.<\/p>\n

In response, Eilis Brennan SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said the trial judge had given a carefully reasoned decision as to how he came to the headline sentence. She said he had also given “the maximum” discount based on immaturity and submitted no error had been identified as she urged the court to refuse the appeal.<\/p>\n

Ms Brennan highlighted the \u201cappalling circumstances\u201d of this case. It involved \u201csignificant planning\u201d, counsel said, with a young boy used to \u201clure\u201d the victim by telling her three lads wanted to talk to her.<\/p>\n

The victim, who had grown up in care and had taken tablets on the day, initially said no but was eventually persuaded into the car and brought to Dollymount. Once there,\u00a0 the defendants \u201chad sex with her sequentially\u201d with one handing out condoms to the others.<\/p>\n

On the way back, the men started to joke about \u201cwho had been the best at sex and who had the biggest penis,\u201d counsel said.<\/p>\n

The teenager was a \u201cparticularly vulnerable victim\u201d, Ms Brennan said, and the three defendants had demonstrated \u201cmaturity and planning\u201d with CCTV showing them \u201cclocking\u201d the young woman as she came into the caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n

They \u201ctargeted\u201d the victim before abandoning her at an isolated location at 10pm in \u201cbleak midwinter\u201d in a \u201cdark and lonely place\u201d three-quarters of a kilometre from the main road, the barrister added.<\/p>\n

She said the judge had imposed the post-release supervision order \u201cto protect the public\u201d with a view to limiting \u201cthe risk of each man committing further offences\u201d and to rehabilitate the defendants \u201cif that is possible\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said there was no evidential basis for suspending any portion of the sentences imposed.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Over<\/p>\n

Ireland<\/p>\n

Over 800 people subject to deportation orders still residing in IPAS centres<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEach showed no interest in pursuing victim-focused work because not one of them accepts the verdict,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at the sentence in the round for what happened in this case, I say it was a fair sentence,\u201d the barrister said.<\/p>\n

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, sitting with Ms Justice Nuala Butler and Ms Justice Tara Burns, said the court would reserve judgment.<\/p>\n

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie\/services\/helpline\/ or visit Rape Crisis Help. In the case of an emergency, always dial 999\/112.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lawyers for three men who \u201ctargeted\u201d a vulnerable teenager and lured her into a car before driving her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-439142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}