The Court of Appeal dismissed Charles Twesigye’s appeal against his convictions for possessing cocaine and possessing it for sale or supply, affirming the convictions. The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Edwards on 13 May 2015, dealt with the conviction appeal only. Although Twesigye had also appealed the severity of his sentences, that issue was not decided in this judgment.
Twesigye was convicted by a jury in December 2013 on counts under sections 3 and 15 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977. The jury acquitted him on a third count under section 15A, which concerned drugs with a market value of €13,000 or more. He received concurrent sentences in January 2014: six years, with the final three years suspended, on the possession count, and ten years, with the final three years suspended, on the sale-or-supply count.
The case followed a controlled delivery of a parcel from Brazil. Customs officers found cocaine concealed in clothing and other items. On 28 August 2012, Detective Garda John Dunning, posing as a delivery driver, handed the parcel to Twesigye, who accepted it on behalf of the intended recipient. Gardaí later stopped the vehicle into which the parcel had been placed. Forensic analysis found 2,042.3 grams of cocaine, with an estimated street value exceeding €140,000.
Twesigye argued that he had effectively been detained from 2pm, when gardaí brought him into his home during a search and told him to remain in the sitting room. His formal arrest was recorded at 2.58pm. He said the six-hour initial detention period therefore expired before a superintendent extended it at 8.48pm, making the extension invalid and his later interview admissions inadmissible. The prosecution maintained that he was not detained before his formal arrest.
The appeal court found evidence capable of supporting the trial judge’s conclusion that Twesigye was first arrested at 2.58pm. It noted that there had been no physical restraint before then and that the judge accepted Sergeant Richard Byrne’s evidence that he had not decided to arrest Twesigye earlier. The court said the absence of testimony from the gardaí who first approached Twesigye was regrettable, but did not require the judge to reject Byrne’s account. It upheld the ruling that the detention was lawfully extended and that the later interview responses were admissible.
The court also rejected Twesigye’s argument that the conviction under section 15 was irreconcilable with his acquittal under section 15A. It said the jury could have acquitted on the more serious count because it was not satisfied that the prosecution had proved the additional value element as the jury understood it. The appeal court concluded that Twesigye had not shown that no reasonable jury could have returned those verdicts.