High Court strikes out suspended-sentence legal referral

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

A High Court referral of legal questions about revoking a man’s suspended sentence was struck out as moot on 25 April 2016. Mr Justice Seamus Noonan granted the DPP’s application and awarded the prisoner costs.

The District Court had referred the questions in 2015 after the man’s lawyers disputed the lawfulness of revocation under Section 99. Judge Patrick Durcan’s questions included whether an outstanding appeal against the earlier conviction should prevent revocation.

The man had several convictions, including offences under the Road Traffic Acts and theft. He had come before the District Court for possible revocation after committing further offences during the suspension. His lawyers argued that revocation before his appeal was decided could leave him jailed on a conviction subsequently overturned.

Mr Justice Michael Moriarty had declared subsections 99.9 and 99.10 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006, as amended, unconstitutional. The proceedings were reported on 25 April 2016.

Three other cases before Mr Justice Seamus Noonan were adjourned to Wednesday pending final orders from Mr Justice Michael Moriarty.

One prisoner challenged activation of a six-year suspended term imposed following convictions including burglary and attempted robbery. He had pleaded guilty to other charges. His counsel, Micheál P O’Higgins, said the term should not have been activated because an appeal against the earlier conviction remained outstanding.

Another prisoner argued a District Court judge lacked power to activate a four-month suspended sentence imposed in January 2015 following a January 2016 conviction for another offence. That offence attracted a 10-month sentence consecutive to the four-month term. The issue was whether the ruling affected the 10-month sentence.

The third prisoner challenged an 11-month term being served following revocation. His original sentence was two years for drug offences, with 11 months suspended.