The Court of Appeal has upheld the sentence imposed on Brendan Mahoney for posting a decomposing pig's head to the Kilkee home of a serving garda, rejecting the Director of Public Prosecutions' claim that the penalty was unduly lenient.
Mahoney was unanimously convicted after a four-day trial of sending a menacing article by post. Garda Paul Heaslip received the parcel at his rented home in Kilkee in January 2012. When opened, it contained a decomposing pig's head.
The evidence linked Mahoney to the parcel through CCTV from Prussia Street Post Office in Dublin, postal records and markings on its packaging. Gardaí also recovered text messages from phones attributed to him referring to media coverage of the pig's head.
The sentencing court heard that Garda Heaslip and his then fiancée, now wife, were seriously affected. She became afraid to go to work or remain at home alone. Garda Heaslip took time away from work, the couple left their accommodation, his wife left her teaching job in the area and he sought a transfer from west Clare.
Mahoney had also breached bail and absconded to Spain, requiring his return under a European arrest warrant. He had numerous previous convictions. Shortly before sentence, however, he apologised and expressed remorse.
Ennis Circuit Criminal Court imposed two years' imprisonment on 8 May 2015, suspending the final year on conditions. The DPP argued that the trial judge had understated the seriousness of the offence and given excessive credit for limited mitigation.
Mr Justice Edwards, delivering the Court of Appeal's judgment, said an undue-leniency review requires a substantial departure from the proper sentencing range, not merely a sentence the appeal court might itself have made harsher.
The court found the two-year starting point was within the sentencing judge's discretion. Suspending half was described as very generous and near the outer limit of what could be justified, but still within the permissible range. The DPP's application was dismissed.