DPP v C.I.

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: Mr. Justice Sheehan
• Judgment Date: 28 July 2016
• Neutral Citation: [2016] IECA 360
• Court: Court of Appeal (Ireland)
• Docket Number: 141/14
• Date: 28 July 2016

The People at the Suit of the Director of Public Prosecutions

Respondent

V

C.I.

Appellant

[2016] IECA 360

141/14

THE COURT OF APPEAL

Sentencing – Assault causing harm – Mitigating factors – Appellant seeking to appeal against sentence – Whether sentencing judge erred in failing to identify how he factored into the sentence the mitigating factors that were before him

Facts: The appellant pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to her daughter and to three counts of ill-treating and neglecting three of her children aged two, four and eight between February, 2012 and August, 2012. The appellant received a sentence of four years imprisonment which was fully suspended, but subject to a number of conditions. The appellant appealed to the Court of Appeal against sentence. The appellant’s principal ground of complaint was that the sentencing judge should have chosen a lower headline sentence than one of four years imprisonment and further that he erred in failing to identify how he factored into the sentence the undoubted mitigating factors that were before him. These related not only to the efforts that the appellant had made with her alcohol problem, but also her commitment to other programmes which had been offered to her by the Probation Service.

Held by Sheehan J that the sentencing judge carefully applied the principle of proportionality by holding that the offending behaviour was in the mid-range. Sheehan J also noted that the sentencing judge incentivised the appellant’s future behaviour in the conditions he attached to the suspended sentence and that he factored all the mitigating factors into account by suspending the total sentence, even if he did not go through each mitigating factor in his sentencing remarks. The Court found no error in the judge’s approach to sentence or in the sentence actually imposed by the Court.

Sheehan J held that he would dismiss the appeal.

Appeal dismissed.

JUDGMENT of the Court (ex tempore) delivered on the 28th day of July 2016 by Mr. Justice Sheehan

Mr. Justice Sheehan

1 This is an appeal against sentence.

2 The appellant pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to her daughter and to three counts of ill treating and neglecting three of her children aged two, four and eight between February, 2012 and August, 2012. The appellant received a sentence of four years imprisonment which was fully suspended, but subject to a number of conditions.

3 Detective Garda Kearney gave evidence at the sentence hearing and told the Court the following:-

‘On the 1st August, 2012, I arrived at the home of the appellant and noticed that she was extremely intoxicated. I was concerned immediately because I could not see any of the children. I noticed that the house was in a state of filth. I asked if I could inspect the upstairs area where the children were. I did, I went upstairs accompanied byanother member of the An Garda Síochána and two social workers and what I found was the three children lying in a double bed in what can only be described as shocking conditions. The mattress was soaked in urine. The children were wearing nappies that were soiled and had not been changed. The three of them were lying in the bed as I said in a lethargic state. I found it to be strange given that it was only 5.00 in the evening. I went downstairs and I inspected the living quarters. I found some powdered milk that had been out of date for a number of months. There was no fresh fruit in the house. The basic sanitary conditions were extremely poor. The children were unkempt it was clear that they had not been washed in quite a considerable period of time. The four year old it appeared to me, that was not speaking and I took the decision to invoke s. 12 of the Childcare Act.’

4 The social worker who had accompanied Detective Garda Kearney stated:-

‘It was quite shocking as a social work professional to witness such shocking neglect. It is my opinion that this case is one of the most horrific incidents I have witnessed in ten years experience in this field’.

5 With regard to the affect on the children, the Court heard from the...