The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal against the severity of a five-year prison sentence imposed on Michal Malecki for drug offences. The sentence included suspension of its final two years on terms.
The judgment, delivered on 4 March 2019 by Ms Justice Kennedy, concerned a sentence imposed by Portlaoise Circuit Criminal Court on 11 April 2018. Malecki received five years’ imprisonment on one count under section 15 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977, as amended. A second section 15 count was taken into consideration.
The appeal court said gardaí found cannabis valued at €13,400 and methylenamphetamine valued at €1,825 during a search at an address on Hawthorne Drive, Portlaoise, on 18 May 2017. The total drug value was €15,225. Officers also found €2,820 in cash, weighing scales, plastic deal bags and a tick list.
Malecki took responsibility for the substances during interview and pleaded guilty to two counts on 9 January 2018. The sentencing judge set a headline sentence of seven years and reduced it to five years, suspending the final two years.
The sentencing judge treated the quantity of drugs, evidence of a significant dealing operation and the effects of drugs on society as aggravating factors. The appeal court added that different types of controlled substances had been found at Malecki’s home. It said the items found with the drugs indicated a commercial enterprise.
The judge considered Malecki’s early guilty plea, cooperation and absence of previous convictions in mitigation. The court noted that the judge also took account of Malecki being a foreign national and the effect of imprisonment on his relationship with his partner and adult daughter. It said his partner lived and worked in Ireland and his daughter was an adult, reducing the weight of that aspect of mitigation.
For Malecki, counsel argued that the judge had not adequately reduced the sentence or suspended enough of it to encourage rehabilitation. The prosecution argued that the mitigation had received sufficient weight, noting that Malecki had been caught red-handed. The prosecution also defended the seven-year headline sentence.
The Court of Appeal said the drugs’ value meant Malecki could have faced a more serious section 15A charge, carrying a presumptive minimum sentence of ten years. It found no error in the headline sentence, the two-year reduction for mitigation, or the decision to suspend the final two years. It dismissed the appeal.