The Court of Appeal reduced Tony McInerney’s sentence for a cocaine offence to 10 years and ruled that a separate sentence for possessing criminal proceeds must run at the same time. The court dismissed his argument that the sentencing judge gave too little credit for mitigation.
The appeal concerned an aggregate 14-year prison term, with the final two years suspended, imposed at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on 12 May 2021. The Court of Appeal quashed the sentence for the drugs offence under section 15A of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 and substituted a 10-year term. It made the sentence for the section 7 offence under the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 concurrent. Both sentences are to date from the same date as the Circuit Court sentences.
The charges arose from a search at a residence with an attached garage in Kilfilum, Spancilhill, County Clare, on 23 September 2020. Gardaí found cocaine being prepared in the garage, along with benzocaine, scales, a knife and spoon, and a running blender. The judgment said the cocaine was valued at €50,028.02 and weighed 714.686 grams. McInerney was found holding a bag of cocaine, which he threw into a bucket of water as Gardaí approached. A forensic examination of a phone found at the premises revealed an electronic tick list.
The Court of Appeal disagreed with the trial judge’s decision to make the sentences consecutive. It said the €2,500 found at the drugs scene was closely linked to the drug activity and formed an integral part of it. A detective had told the sentencing hearing that Gardaí believed the money was agreed as payment for use of the premises to prepare cocaine, based on information from interviews. The judgment also records that €2,000 was found during a follow-up search at Quinn Gardens, County Clare.
The appeal court considered the 14-year headline sentence for the drugs offence high compared with sentences in other cases. It said a headline term of 12 or 12½ years would have been appropriate, but found no basis for a sentence to be served of less than 10 years or for suspending any part of it. It described the offending as very serious.
The court rejected the claim that the sentencing judge had failed to give sufficient weight to mitigation. It noted McInerney’s guilty plea, but also his previous convictions, including an earlier drugs conviction, and that the plea followed a trial date being sought. The judgment said the earlier drugs and firearms matters, including an offence involving a pipe bomb, dated from when he was 17.