The Court of Appeal has dismissed Anthony Daly’s challenge to a three-year prison sentence for possessing cannabis resin worth about €3,000 for sale or supply in Santry, Dublin.
Daly was convicted at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 11 December 2014. Gardaí had found the drugs at an address in Santry after obtaining a search warrant. Entry was gained using a key found on Daly following an interview after his car had been stopped and searched.
He was sentenced on 10 June 2015. Daly argued on appeal that three years was too severe and that insufficient weight had been given to his conduct since the December 2011 offence, efforts to address a gambling addiction, employment, family circumstances, work as a foster father and involvement in sport and community activities.
However, the sentencing court was also dealing with an earlier drugs sentence. In 2006, Daly had received ten years for a section 15A drugs offence involving substances worth about €140,000, with the final six years suspended. The 2011 offence was committed after his release but while that suspended term remained operative.
Rather than activate some or all of the earlier six-year term and separately sentence Daly for the new offence, the Circuit Court took what it described as a global approach. It made no order activating the earlier sentence and instead imposed three years for the new offence, while stating that the breach of the earlier bond had greatly influenced the outcome.
The Court of Appeal found no error in that approach for the purposes of Daly’s appeal. It noted that, viewed in isolation, a €3,000 cannabis offence with his mitigating circumstances might have attracted 12 months or less, or potentially a fully suspended sentence if there had been no relevant previous conviction.
But Daly’s serious prior drugs conviction and commission of a new drugs offence during the suspended-sentence period materially changed the position. The three-year term was neither disproportionate nor excessive, and the appeal was dismissed.