The Court of Appeal has dismissed Christina Joyce’s appeal against the severity of a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence imposed for a series of offences committed on 9 April 2018.
In a judgment delivered on 19 July 2019, the court said the sentence was within the range available to the Circuit Court judge. It also found no error in principle in the decision not to suspend part of the term.
The offences began when Joyce drove a vehicle onto a footpath in Dublin and collided with a wall. Later, after Gardaí stopped the vehicle and decided to seize it because it had no insurance or driver’s licence, she drove off. Garda Gallagher was knocked down and held onto the vehicle before falling onto the road. The judgment said he suffered injuries and lasting physical and psychological effects.
The vehicle later collided with a Dublin City Council van. Joyce and her passenger left the scene and entered two separate homes while trying to escape. Joyce pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment, assault causing harm, two burglaries and two criminal damage charges. The sentencing judge imposed four-and-a-half years on the assault count, taking the other offences into account as part of a global sentence.
For Joyce, counsel argued that the sentencing judge had given too little weight to her difficult personal circumstances, addiction and need for support towards rehabilitation. Counsel also argued that the sentence improperly took account of past and anticipated future offending, and that some of it should have been suspended.
The Director of Public Prosecutions’ counsel submitted that the offending was grave and involved a series of incidents, each with significant aggravating features. The appeal court said the sentencing judge had considered the guilty pleas, remorse, rehabilitation prospects and personal circumstances. It rejected the argument that Joyce had been punished again for past offences or for offences she might commit in future.
The court said the Circuit Court judge could have imposed consecutive terms, subject to proportionality and totality, but was entitled to impose a global sentence. It described the choice to place that sentence on the assault count as unusual, while finding the structure was clearly explained.
The court also said there was no obligation to suspend part of the sentence, particularly given recent suspended sentences, offending while on bail and little evidence of concrete steps towards rehabilitation. The appeal was dismissed.