The Court of Appeal has dismissed Kevin Molloy’s appeal against a sentence for two harassment offences, leaving in place a two-and-a-half-year prison term and a seven-year restriction on working in debt collection while part of the sentence is suspended.
Molloy had pleaded guilty to harassing Joseph Byrne between 7 April and 9 August 2015, and Byrne’s daughter, Aisling Byrne, between 25 April and 27 June 2015. The second count was taken into consideration at sentencing. On the first count, the Circuit Court imposed two and a half years’ imprisonment and suspended the final 12 months for seven years, subject to conditions including probation supervision, no contact with the victims or their families, and no direct or indirect involvement in debt-collection services.
The offences arose from Molloy’s attempts to recover money he understood was owed by Ian Cunningham to Padraig Geraghty. The appeal judgment said Byrne and his daughter had no involvement in those dealings. The court described calls, threatening messages and posters circulated at horse shows and at business premises. It said the conduct caused fear and reputational and financial harm to Aisling Byrne, who gave up horse breeding and reduced her modelling work.
Molloy argued that the four-year headline sentence used by the sentencing judge was too high and that the debt-collection condition was disproportionate and interfered with his right to work. The Court of Appeal rejected the challenge to the prison term. It said the offending was properly placed in the upper mid-range for sentencing and that a four-year starting point was not excessive, given the maximum sentence of seven years. The court also considered the guilty plea and other mitigation, noting that the judge had reduced the sentence and suspended its final year.
On the work restriction, the court considered whether the condition was proportionate. It found that the offences had been committed in the course of Molloy’s debt-collection work and said the restriction served the public interest in ensuring the law was observed when debts were pursued. It also referred, as a secondary consideration, to his past convictions, including dishonesty offences dealt with in 2018.
The appeal judgment was delivered on 25 September 2020. The court dismissed the appeal, leaving the sentence and conditions in place.