John Faulkner’s 12-year burglary sentence upheld by Supreme Court

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

The Supreme Court upheld John Faulkner’s 12-year prison sentence for burglary on 25 April 2024. The burglary targeted the rural Co Cork home of an elderly couple while they attended mass.

Faulkner denied the charges. A unanimous jury found him guilty of burglary, dangerous driving and endangerment in April 2021 at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Judge Sean O’Donnabhain sentenced him to 12 years for burglary. The Supreme Court report said he also received concurrent two-year sentences for endangerment and dangerous driving. He was disqualified from driving for 20 years.

The State’s case was that a car arrived in the area and two men got out and went into a field; the court was told Faulkner was driving. Gardaí arrested the two men at the house and later pursued Faulkner, whose car crashed into an unmarked garda car. His defence had suggested he could have been dropping the men off to visit friends. It also claimed he thought he was fleeing people with whom he had a feud rather than gardaí; that suggestion was rejected.

Faulkner’s legal team argued that his sentence was disproportionate to those of his co-offenders, who had pleaded guilty and received nine-year sentences in 2020, with two years discounted. The Court of Appeal dismissed his sentence appeal in 2022.

For the Supreme Court, Mr Justice Peter Charleton said Faulkner had brought the escape plan to fulfilment and driven in a manner that put road users in peril. He found no discernible mitigation on the evidence and held that the sentence was justified. Four other judges agreed.