Judgment reserved on appeal against Stephen O’Connor’s suspended firearms sentence

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

The Court of Appeal reserved judgment on the Director of Public Prosecutions’ challenge to Stephen O’Connor’s wholly suspended four-year firearms sentence. Presiding judge Justice George Birmingham called it a “very serious case”. The proceedings were reported on 22 October 2021.

O’Connor, 45, of Carndonagh Lawns, Donaghmede, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of firearms. The offence occurred at his address on 7 September 2019 and carried a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. He had no previous convictions.

At Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 10 May 2021, Judge Elma Sheahan imposed a four-year sentence, suspended in full on strict conditions for four years. The report also records an order to cut all ties with “people with criminal conditions”.

For the DPP, Garrett McCormack BL accepted the four-year term but argued that it should not have been wholly suspended. He said both semi-automatic firearms were loaded with 15 rounds of 9mm Luger ammunition, were working and had been stored for criminals’ ease of access.

At sentencing, Detective Garda Jonathan Griffin described the discovery of two pistols inside a Henry Hoover in the van. He agreed with Fiona Murphy SC, defending, that O’Connor appeared to have serious mental health issues and that no DNA was found on the guns.

Murphy said O’Connor was repeatedly approached by an acquaintance while “incredibly vulnerable” and agreed to hold the items to “get them off his back”. She said he did not know what they were. Two of his brothers had died by suicide, and he had twice attempted suicide in the preceding months.

Judge Sheahan accepted that the acquaintance knew of O’Connor’s vulnerabilities and had used and taken advantage of him. She also considered his mental health difficulties, maintained employment and relationships, and lack of previous convictions.

This case may have concluded differently. The outcome has not yet been confirmed by a public source we could find.