The Court of Appeal reduced Rosemary Jones’s sentence for forgery and criminal damage, ruling that the five-year aggregate term imposed by the Circuit Court was excessive. It imposed concurrent sentences and suspended the final six months of the criminal damage term, subject to conditions.
The appeal concerned sentences imposed in the Circuit Court in Nenagh on 15 March 2018: two years’ imprisonment for forgery and three years, consecutive, for criminal damage. The sentencing judge had indicated that the final year of the aggregate sentence could be suspended if Jones entered a bond. She declined.
The charges arose from a landlord-tenant dispute over a three-bedroom house in Nenagh, which Jones had rented from Paul Egan in 2010. The court said difficulties developed in mid-2014. Egan complained that Jones had forged his signature on a Rent Supplement Review Form after he declined to complete documents to continue rent supplement payments. The judgment said he wanted to pressure her to leave and had considered her an unsuitable tenant; it also recorded that she had not paid rent for a prolonged period. The court said it did not appear that Jones obtained a financial benefit from the forgery, although that was her intention.
The criminal damage indictment was divided into four counts concerning different parts of the house. Jones pleaded guilty to damaging kitchen furniture on 18 October 2017, on a full-facts basis. The other counts concerned a door, household property including a shower, and walls and skirting boards. The court was told the injured parties estimated repairs would cost about €10,000. At sentencing, the court was also told Jones had arranged to install a fitted kitchen and obtained an oven, fridge, dishwasher, hob and extractor fan to make available.
The Court of Appeal said the criminal damage was serious and had grave consequences for the injured parties, while noting that Jones’s reluctance to plead had been based on not accepting that she deliberately set out to damage the property. It said the offences were closely connected and concurrent sentences were appropriate. It imposed 12 months for forgery and two years for criminal damage, to run concurrently and date from the same day as the Circuit Court sentences. The final six months of the criminal damage sentence were suspended.
The suspended term requires Jones to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for the remainder of her time in custody and for two years after release. She must also not approach Egan, his wife or their child. The court said suspension would support a structured return to society after custody.