The Court of Appeal increased a prison sentence imposed on Jason Freyne for firing a sawn-off shotgun at a man in Limerick, after finding the original sentence unduly lenient.
In a judgment delivered on 20 February 2017, the court replaced an eight-year sentence with a 10-year term. It retained the suspension of the final two and a half years, subject to conditions similar to those set by the sentencing court. The court said that suspended element was not warranted to account fairly for mitigation, but applied it reluctantly, citing the significant extension of the sentence and Freyne’s progress and good behaviour in prison.
Freyne had pleaded guilty and was convicted at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court on 10 December 2015 of four counts involving possession of a firearm and ammunition. The first two counts were possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life. The other two concerned possession or control of a firearm and ammunition in circumstances giving rise to an inference of an unlawful purpose. The last two counts were taken into consideration at sentencing.
The offences arose from a shooting on 9 May 2015 in a residential part of Limerick city. The judgment said Freyne discharged a shotgun at Joseph McCarthy, who suffered gunshot injuries to the right side of his body. Freyne was arrested the next day while armed with the same shotgun and wearing a bullet-proof vest. He told gardaí he had shot a man who pointed a gun at him, but the judgment said no such event had occurred. Freyne claimed he had fired after being shot at first.
The sentencing judge imposed eight years for the first two counts, backdated to 9 May 2015, with the final two and a half years suspended for eight years from the date of sentence. The judge relied on exceptional and specific circumstances, including Freyne’s assistance to gardaí and early indication that he would plead guilty, to depart from the statutory minimum term of 10 years. The judge also remarked that Freyne had not expressed remorse.
The Director of Public Prosecutions applied for a review under section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1993, arguing the sentence was unduly lenient and that the guilty plea carried reduced weight because of the evidence against Freyne. The Court of Appeal accepted that the sentencing judge could depart from the minimum, but said an appropriate starting sentence was significantly above eight years. It said the planned attack in a built-up area could have caused one or more deaths and that the outcome depended on luck.
The court said the remaining sentences would stay in place and run concurrently. It also noted that Freyne, through his legal representatives, had acknowledged that the feud behind the offence was over as far as he was concerned.