The Court of Appeal has extended the time for Tibor Hricko to appeal the severity of his sentence, after finding that his intention to appeal had been formed within the prescribed period but the notice was not filed in time.
In an ex tempore judgment delivered on 5 February 2019, the court said the applicant and his solicitor became aware on 20 March 2018 that the notice had not been lodged. Grounds of appeal had been sent to the Court of Appeal office on 25 July 2017, but the notice itself had not been filed.
Hricko was sentenced on 28 June 2017 to eight years’ imprisonment for counts of defilement, with the final 12 months suspended, and five years for counts of sexual assault. The sentences were backdated to 20 December 2016. The judgment said he had been in custody since 20 November 2015.
The application to extend time was dated 19 October 2018 and filed on 25 October 2018. An affidavit from his solicitor, Mr Byrne, said there had been no discussion of sentence on 25 May 2017. Hricko was advised on 29 June about the merits of appealing his conviction and sentence and said he did not wish to appeal either. The affidavit stated that he later learned the sentence had not been backdated to his initial custody date. When his solicitor consulted him in prison on 17 July 2017, he instructed the solicitor that he had already attended the prison Governor to lodge an appeal.
The court noted that Hricko sought to have his sentence backdated to 20 November 2015. He also argued that the sentencing judge erred in finding that he had breached bail conditions, saying he was first charged on that date.
The Court of Appeal concluded that the interests of justice would be served by extending time, taking account of the background and merits of the application. Its ruling grants extra time to bring the sentence appeal; it does not determine the appeal grounds or change the sentence in this judgment.