DPP v McDermott & McLoughlin
Jurisdiction | Ireland |
Judge | Mr. Justice Mahon |
Judgment Date | 16 December 2014 |
Neutral Citation | [2014] IECA 14 |
Docket Number | Appeal Number: 43/2012 |
Court | Court of Appeal (Ireland) |
Date | 16 December 2014 |
[2014] IECA 14
THE COURT OF APPEAL
Birmingham, J.
Mahon, J.
Edwards, J.
NO CITATIONS IN THIS JUDGMENT
Sentencing – Criminal damage – Consecutive sentences – Appellants seeking to appeal against sentences – Whether sentences were appropriate and proportionate
Facts: The appellants, Mr McDermott and Mr McLoughlin, travelled by motorbike to a particular house in Ballyfermot in 2011 and there discharged three cartridges through the front living room window, a bedroom window and the front door of the house. The intention was to frighten the occupants, rather than injure them. In their attempt to escape the scene the appellants crashed their motorbike while being pursued by Gardaí, sustaining injuries to themselves in so doing. In 2012 the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court imposed sentences of ten years, (with the final three suspended on conditions) in respect of offences relating to the use of a firearm and criminal damage. Because the offences were committed while both of the appellants were on bail in relation to earlier offences, the sentences were consecutive to sentences then being served. The appellants appealed to the Court of Appeal. Their submissions focused on the totality of the sentences, and the contention that the trial judge erred in principle in failing to sufficiently respect this principle, having regard, in particular, to his decision that the sentences were to run consecutively to then current sentences, and which resulted effectively in delaying the commencement of the sentences imposed by approximately two and a half and one and a half years, respectively.
Held by Mahon J that the fact that both appellants had long lists of previous convictions for various offences stretching back over a number of years, coupled with the very serious nature of the offences committed, left the trial judge with little option in terms of arriving at an appropriate sentence other than the imposition of severe sentences, even allowing fully for mitigating factors, including the pleas of guilty, their stated remorse and their difficult backgrounds and personal circumstances. Mahon J was satisfied that...
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