The Court of Appeal has dismissed Mark Carlyle’s appeal against the severity of a five-year prison sentence for violent disorder, finding no error in the sentencing judge’s approach or in the sentence imposed. The final 18 months were suspended on conditions.
Carlyle had pleaded guilty to one count of violent disorder under section 15 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994. The offence took place outside a Harcourt Street nightclub on 23 September 2014. The judgment said he pulled a security worker away from colleagues, punched him eight or nine times in the face and head, and threw a crowd-control barrier at security staff. Staff, including workers from nearby premises, restrained him shortly afterwards.
The court noted that Carlyle and his co-accused had attended the funeral of a close family friend that day. The prosecuting garda accepted that Carlyle was intoxicated. He was 26 at the time of the appeal and had 98 previous convictions, including two previous violent disorder convictions. He was also serving a suspended sentence for another violent disorder offence when the incident occurred.
In challenging the sentence, his counsel argued that the incident was spontaneous, no weapons were used, the injured worker’s injuries were minor, and the worker returned to work immediately. Counsel also pointed to the year between the incident and the violent disorder charge, and to a lighter sentence imposed on a co-accused who had assaulted the worker in a similar manner.
The prosecution highlighted differences between the two men: the co-accused had 11 convictions, all dealt with in the District Court, none for violent disorder, and was not subject to a suspended sentence at the time.
The Court of Appeal said those differences were significant. It upheld the sentencing judge’s assessment that Carlyle had been at the forefront of the attack and said the suspended sentence for violent disorder was also relevant. The court dismissed the appeal. The source records that the original sentence’s suspended portion was subject to a five-year bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour, as well as 18 months of engagement with the Probation Service, including addressing anger management and alcohol abuse.