The Court of Appeal has dismissed Justin Doyle’s appeal against the severity of a four-year prison sentence imposed for criminal damage and demanding money with menaces. It ruled that the six-year headline sentence was within the sentencing judge’s discretion and found no error in leaving the full four-year term unsuspended.
Doyle had pleaded guilty to the two offences, arising from an incident on 7 August 2020 at a family home in Thomastown, County Kilkenny. The court’s judgment recounts evidence that Doyle and two co-accused went to the home seeking repayment of a drug debt. The occupants were confronted with shouting and banging on windows. The judgment records a threat to burn the house down and a threat to throw a brick through a window.
The appeal judgment also noted two later visits to the property. The second, on 17 October 2020, involved an unknown man and was not the subject of charges in the case. Gardaí later searched Doyle’s address in Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, finding Alprazolam tablets and fireworks. The drug-possession and fireworks counts were taken into consideration when sentence was imposed; drugs seized were ordered forfeited and destroyed.
In December 2021, the Circuit Criminal Court set a six-year headline sentence for the criminal damage and menaces counts, then reduced it by one-third for mitigation, including Doyle’s guilty pleas and remorse. It imposed four years’ imprisonment, with no part suspended. The appeal challenged the headline sentence and argued that some of the term should have been suspended to encourage rehabilitation.
The Court of Appeal said the offending was premeditated and involved intimidating several people at their home to collect an illegal drug debt. It described the six-year headline sentence as severe but within the sentencing judge’s margin of appreciation. It also rejected the argument that the sentencing judge should have suspended part of the term. The court considered Doyle’s earlier residential drug treatment, subsequent relapse, record of previous convictions and the evidence that he had self-referred to addiction counselling in custody. It concluded there was not a sufficient basis for suspending part of the sentence.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Edwards on 20 February 2023, dismissed the appeal.