PROSECUTORS HAVE BEEN given a date in February to argue that a wholly suspended sentence imposed on a man who raped his girlfriend while she slept was “unduly lenient”.

Norwegian national Magnus Meyer Hustveit (25), pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to one count of rape and one count of sexual assault committed against his 28-year-old girlfriend between 2011 and 2012.

He was given a wholly suspended seven-year sentence by Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy on 13 July 2015.

Hustveit, whose victim Niamh Ní Dhomhnail waived her right to anonymity so that his identity could be published, returned to his native Norway after he was given the suspended sentence.

The Director of Public Prosecutions sought a review of Hustveit’s sentence on grounds that it was “unduly lenient”.

During procedural matters in the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice George Birmingham fixed 4 February as the date for the hearing.

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Hustveit was not in court for the procedural matter.

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