DPP v Hanley

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: Hanna J.
• Judgment Date: 15 October 2010
• Neutral Citation: [2010] IECCA 124
• Court: Court of Criminal Appeal
• Date: 15 October 2010

[2010] IECCA 124

COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEAL

Finnegan j.

Budd J.

Hanna J.

CCA/2/10

DPP v Hanley

THE PEOPLE(AT THE SUIT OF THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS)

.v.

SEAN HANLEY

APPLICANT

MISUSE OF DRUGS ACT 1977 S15A

CRIMINAL LAW

Sentence

Exceptional and specific circumstances - Medical reports - Plea of not guilty - Age and health of applicant - Tragic death of son - Whether error in principle in imposing sentence - Sentence of 5 years substituted for sentence of 10 years (2/2010- CCA - 15/10/2010) [2010] IEHC 124

People (DPP) v Hanley

1 Judgment of the Court (ex tempore) delivered on Friday the 15th day of October 2010 by Hanna J.

2 The court has already set out the background to this case earlier today in the ex tempore judgment delivered by the presiding judge, Mr. Justice Finnegan. The applicant's appeal against conviction was dismissed. We now turn to the appeal against sentence.

3 The court has carefully considered the matters which have been raised by counsel. A number of issues raised by counsel for the applicant could properly be described as imaginative and displaying wide area of research. The essential issue is whether or not the learned trial judge erred in principle in imposing the sentence of ten years on Mr. Hanley.

4 We specifically refer to and adopt the transcript of the sentencing phase of the proceedings before His Honour Judge Anthony Kennedy and to the medical reports that were read out there in detail by learned counsel Mr Patrick McEntee S.C. The court directs that that portion of the transcript be appended to this judgment rather than set it out herein in extenso.. In the view of this court, these reports establish circumstances which are both exceptional and specific in relation to the defendant and must inform our approach to penalty under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

5 In the circumstances this court is satisfied that the learned trial judge failed adequately to take into account the age and the health, both mental and physical, of Mr Hanley. It is accepted that the defendant did not assist in any meaningful way with the investigation of this serious crime. He pleaded not guilty.

6 However, it is clear that the tragic death of his son in 2001 in a stabbing incident and the subsequent perceived injustice of the failure to hold the alleged perpetrator to account...