The Supreme Court has upheld a life sentence imposed on Eric Daniels for attempting to murder a girl aged about 10 after luring her to a field near their homes.
Daniels was 18 when he told the child that he had seen puppies in the field. While they searched, he placed a lace around her neck and tried to strangle her. The girl pretended to be dead. Daniels removed the lace and she later escaped and ran home, where she alerted a babysitter.
After his arrest, Daniels made admissions to Gardaí. The court recorded statements in which he said he wanted to see what it was like to inflict pain and to kill somebody. He ultimately pleaded guilty to attempted murder on the third day of his trial. Three other counts were then discontinued.
The trial judge imposed life imprisonment. The Court of Criminal Appeal upheld that sentence, after which two legal questions were certified for determination by the Supreme Court.
The first concerned whether a maximum sentence could lawfully be imposed despite mitigation such as a guilty plea, youth and lack of previous convictions. Daniels' lawyers ultimately accepted that it could.
The remaining issue was whether the life sentence amounted to preventative detention — imprisonment imposed beyond what the offence itself warrants in order to stop someone committing possible future crimes.
Ms Justice Dunne held that such preventative detention is not permissible as part of ordinary sentencing. A person must be punished for offences actually committed, not merely because of a belief that further offences might occur.
However, the court distinguished that principle from the incidental protective effect of a proportionate prison sentence. It found this attempted murder was an exceptionally grave offence for which life imprisonment was justified on purely penal grounds.
The court therefore held that the life sentence was not preventative detention and was lawful. The sentence remained in place.