The Court of Appeal quashed Warren Nolan’s sentence for possessing a firearm in suspicious circumstances and resentenced him to five years’ imprisonment without suspension. It allowed the Director of Public Prosecutions’ application for review on grounds of undue leniency.
Nolan had pleaded guilty to the firearm offence and to possessing a controlled drug for sale or supply. The sentencing court had imposed five years for the firearm offence, with the final 18 months suspended, and 18 months for the drug offence to run concurrently.
The firearm case arose after gardaí stopped a taxi in Clondalkin on 8 June 2015. The judgment records that Garda Gavin Curran saw Nolan point a pump-action shotgun at him through the taxi window from about two feet away. Curran retreated and warned colleagues. Garda John McQueeney drew his firearm and ordered Nolan to drop the gun. The shotgun was recovered from the taxi; drugs suspected to be cannabis, diamorphine and cocaine were found in Nolan’s pockets. The court also recounted the psychological impact described by Curran and McQueeney in victim impact statements.
The sentencing judge assessed the offence as within the medium range and set a headline sentence of seven and a half years. She cited the brief duration, the absence of ammunition, Nolan’s guilty plea, his age and personal circumstances, and the prospect of rehabilitation. She reduced the term to five years and suspended 18 months subject to conditions.
The Court of Appeal agreed that the offence fell within the medium range, though it said a higher headline sentence could have been justified. It held that the sentencing judge had made an error of principle by suspending part of the sentence below the five-year presumptive minimum without expressly finding exceptional and specific circumstances that made imposing the minimum unjust. The court also found that the overall reduction, exceeding half the headline term, was more than the available mitigation and rehabilitation considerations justified.
The appeal court quashed the original sentence and resentenced Nolan. It said it would retain the five-year headline term and the initial two-and-a-half-year reduction, taking account of time passed and information that Nolan remained drug-free in prison and had no recorded disciplinary offences. It concluded that the reduction was sufficient and imposed five years’ imprisonment simpliciter, with no suspended portion. The judgment does not alter the concurrent sentence for the drug offence in its stated resentencing order.