The Court of Appeal has quashed a seven-and-a-half-year sentence imposed on a man who pleaded guilty to possessing drugs worth at least €13,000 for supply, and resentenced him to eight years’ imprisonment, with the final 18 months suspended.
The court found that suspending three-and-a-half years of the original sentence left a four-year term to be served and made the sentence a substantial departure from the norm. It did not find error in the sentencing judge’s decision to depart from the presumptive 10-year minimum sentence.
The judgment, delivered on 10 December 2021, concerned an application by the Director of Public Prosecutions to review the sentence for undue leniency. The man had pleaded guilty to an offence under section 15A of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977, involving possession of drugs with intent to supply.
The judgment said the package had travelled from the Netherlands through the UK and was found to contain about 19.8kg of diamorphine, with an estimated street value of €2,769,130. It was delivered to a Dublin logistics and distribution warehouse where the man worked. He received it, photographed it and sent the image to a co-accused. He put the package in his vehicle, then took it into nearby premises and emerged without it. He and the other individual were later arrested.
The sentencing judge had set a headline sentence of 12 and a half years, citing the drug’s quantity and value, the man’s role in distribution and the breach of trust involving his workplace. She reduced the sentence to seven and a half years after considering his guilty plea, remorse, gambling addiction, personal circumstances, vulnerabilities and lack of relevant previous convictions, then suspended the final three and a half years.
The Court of Appeal agreed that the mitigating factors were properly identified and described the reduction for mitigation as very generous. It also accepted that the man had provided significant and worthwhile assistance to Gardaí by giving them access codes to his phone. The guilty plea and that assistance alone were enough to support the decision to go below the presumptive minimum, the court said.
In resentencing, the court reduced the headline term to eight years and suspended 18 months on the same terms and conditions imposed by the Circuit Court. It said the suspension would enable the man to address his gambling addiction.