October 2011

Child rapist succeeds in sentence reduction appeal

A convicted rapist has succeeded in having his life sentence for the rape of his partner’s daughter reduced at the Court of Criminal Appeal.

The Court of Criminal Appeal had already upheld 41-year-old Christopher Griffin’s conviction but deemed the appropriate sentence for repeatedly raping and sexually abusing his partner’s daughter was 15 years.

Griffin was a criminal gang leader at the time he abused his partner’s daughter.

The abuse began when she was eight years old and continued for another eight years.

She reported the abuse to gardaí and in 2007, Griffin was sentenced to life in prison.

Griffin is a convicted armed robber and gunman. The gang split up following his conviction, which led to an ongoing feud that has so far resulted in five men being shot dead.

Shots were also fired into the victim’s home.

The Court of Criminal Appeal ruled today that Griffin showed no remorse, there were no mitigating factors and no rehabilitation but substituted the life sentence and deemed the appropriate sentence for the rape and sexual abuse was 15 years.

April 2007

Robber gets life in prison for rape of partner’s daughter

A CONVICTED armed robber who raped his partner’s daughter and subjected her to repeated sexual assaults has been jailed for life.

The Central Criminal Court heard yesterday that previous sentences of nine, six and three years had failed to have any effect on Christopher Griffin.

The 37-year-old, from Ridgewood Green in Swords and formerly of Canon Lillis Avenue in Dublin’s north inner city, was found guilty by a jury in January on 11 counts of rape and sexual assault.

The victim, who is now aged 21 but was eight when the abuse began, consented to having her attacker named in the media.

The Central Criminal Court heard that Griffin had a horrendous criminal record, with 18 previous convictions, including nine- and three-year prison sentences for robbery. He was also sentenced to six years for firearms offences in 1986, including possession of guns and ammunition.

Handing down a life sentence, Mr Justice Paul Carney noted Griffin’s “multiplicity of convictions” and that previous lengthy spells behind bars had no effect.

“Clearly this case is one of the utmost gravity in view of the age of the victim when the abuse began and the effects it has had on her as reported to the court in the psychological report, so that a sentence of life imprisonment is justified,” he said.

Mr Justice Carney directed that Griffin be registered as a sex offender and noted that the Court of Criminal Appeal had started to uphold discretionary life sentences in cases of the utmost gravity.

Griffin was convicted on one count of oral rape in 1998, one of rape in 2001 and on nine charges of indecently assaulting the victim on dates from 1993 to 1998.

Mr Justice Carney refused an application by defence counsel Martin Giblin for leave to appeal the conviction and sentence on grounds that included that the trial had been held at Cloverhill courthouse, which counsel claimed was prejudicial to Griffin.

Both the trial and yesterday’s sentence hearing were held in Cloverhill under strict security conditions because of tensions between feuding factions in the north inner city.

Det Sgt Walter O’Connell told the court of a number of serious incidents in which firearms and grenades had been used by opposing factions to intimidate each other as a result of the trial.

Griffin himself was the target in several of these attacks but, despite coming face to face with his attacker, he refused to co-operate with investigating gardai.

Giving evidence at the trial, the victim told how the abuse began after Griffin started a relationship with her mother in 1993. She told how Griffin would say he was sorry after each assault and tell her that she shouldn’t let him do it.

She said that she felt like “the evil one” but that she couldn’t try to stop him because she was only a child at the time.

The court heard that her mother is still living with Griffin, who is a father to two daughters.

A psychological report showed that the victim had been severely traumatised due to the sexual abuse over a number of years and that she continued to fear Griffin.