Jason Heaphy loses challenge to activation of suspended sentence

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

Jason Heaphy has lost an appeal against the rejection of his challenge to the activation of a suspended prison sentence. The Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal on all grounds in a judgment delivered by Ms Justice Máire Whelan on 4 May 2018.

In March 2007, Heaphy was found in possession of a large quantity of cocaine in Cork city and was arrested and charged. On 25 February 2008, he pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Court to eight counts. Judge Patrick Moran sentenced him that day to ten years for possession of a controlled drug for sale or supply, with three years suspended on condition that he enter a three-year bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour.

He was also disqualified from driving for two years for dangerous driving. The other counts were taken into consideration, and the prison sentence was backdated to 25 October 2007. While serving it, he was convicted of possessing a mobile phone and received a consecutive one-month sentence. He was released on 15 February 2013.

On 24 November 2015, Judge David Riordan activated the suspended portion. Heaphy argued that there was no valid written record of the original order and that his bond ran from his imprisonment, rather than his release. He also argued that a failure to comply with statutory requirements deprived the Circuit Court of jurisdiction to activate the sentence.

The appeal court upheld findings that a valid record existed and that the bond ran from his release. It found that the suspension had not fully complied with mandatory statutory requirements, but that this caused no deficit in the fundamental requirements of justice and the sentence had a lawful foundation. The court held that an entitlement to habeas corpus had not been established.