The sentence handed down to Waterford paedophile Bill Kenneally was entirely appropriate and proportionate, Barrister for the State Noel Whelan has told the Court of Appeal.
Kenneally pleaded guilty to ten counts of abusing boys in the 1980s in Waterford and was sentenced in 2016 to 14 years and two months in prison.
A judgment on his appeal against the severity of the sentence was reserved today after being heard before three judges at the Court of Appeal in Dublin.
Kenneally was in court for the hearing, as were six of his victims and their wives and partners.
Senior gardaí who prosecuted the case were also present.
The case for a reduction in the 14-year sentence is being considered by Mr Justice George Birmingham, Mr Justice Alan Mahon and Mr Justice John Edwards, who said they had received and read submissions from both sides and had studied the court transcripts.
Barrister for Kenneally, Michael Counihan SC, argued that the trial judge, Judge Eugene O'Kelly, erred in his sentencing procedure in that he ticked all the boxes, but did not really engage in the mitigating factors that should have applied.
Mr Whelan told the court the 14-year sentence was entirely appropriate and proportionate in that it met the extraordinary and unusual nature of the offending.
Mr Counihan claimed the judge, during sentencing, addressed the victims in an emotional way and that the whole tenor of his sentencing structure was to achieve a result of redress from the victims' point of view without any balancing factors.
He said 14 years was not reasonable or proportionate, that the judge had taken a rather vindictive approach to satisfy the victims and that he had become blinkered.
Mr Justice Edwards said the trial judge had to take into account the victims' statements and that he had been very balanced, but Mr Counihan said the ultimate result had a vengeful effect.
Mr Justice Birmingham said the offences committed by Kenneally had been very serious and if not unique, certainly close to it in terms of what had come before the court.
Mr Counihan said that the sentencing hearing had heard that Kenneally had a psychological disorder - in effect an addiction - from his early age and this had not been challenged by the State.
He said a psychiatric report, carried out on Kenneally by Dr Banks and presented during the sentencing, had not been introduced fully into the mix.
He also said that in 1987, when Kenneally was confronted by then Garda Superintendent Sean Cashman, he had treatment and had not re-offended and this was not taken fully into account by the judge during sentencing.
Mr Justice Edwards said that in sentencing, judges use intuition in terms of mitigating factors, that it was not a mathematical process and that while Mr Counihan might disagree with the figure of 14 years of a sentence, he could not say that Judge O'Kelly had not taken all matters into account.
Mr Justice Birmingham listed various elements concerning the case, such as a number of victims, the gravity of the offences, the time period, the use of alcohol and money, and said he did not know of any other case of a comparable nature.
Mr Whelan said six of the ten victims upon which the case was based were now happy to have their names published. They are Jason Clancy, Colin Power, Barry Murphy, Paul Walsh, Gerry Mullane and Kevin Keating.
He said a striking nature of the case was that there was a collection of boys who kept their secrets from authority for 25 years and that Kenneally had manipulative control over them, which included waving Polaroid photographs at them of the abuse.
Mr Whelan said in his 19 years of practicing law he had never seen anything like this case.
He said it came down to three major sectors: the grooming carried out by Kenneally, the abuse, and the manipulation by a man who had control and command over young teenagers.
After hearing submissions, Mr Justice Birmingham said they would reserve judgment, which they would issue as soon as possible.
