The Court of Appeal has dismissed Christopher Black’s appeal against the severity of a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence imposed for two robberies and possession of heroin with intent to supply. The court found no error of principle and said the global sentence was not excessive.
The appeal concerned sentences imposed in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 6 December 2017. Black received two and a half years for one robbery, then concurrent two-year sentences for a second robbery and the drugs offence. The latter sentences were consecutive to the first robbery sentence because he had been on bail for that matter when he committed the further offences.
The first robbery took place on 17 September 2016 in a Dublin newsagent. The judgment said Black lunged across the counter as a 65-year-old worker opened the till and took between €500 and €600. She was left shocked and frightened. In the second robbery, on 27 January 2017, an 18-year-old woman was approached after leaving a taxi on Camden Street to use an ATM. Black put his arms around her and said he had a syringe; she handed over €80. A syringe and €120 were later found in a hotel room where he was located. The court noted that no victim impact report had been provided for this complainant.
The drugs offence arose from a search on Amiens Street on 2 December 2016. Gardaí found about 27 grams of diamorphine, with a stated market value of €3,838. The judgment said Black admitted intending to sell it and claimed he had a drug debt.
Black argued that the sentence should have been backdated to 13 February 2017, when he entered custody, and that the sentencing judge had not adequately considered his long-term substance use and prospects for rehabilitation. The prosecution submitted that backdating was not required because Black was also serving a District Court sentence during that period.
The appeal court accepted that the sentencing judge had considered the custody issue and the fact that Black was serving another sentence. It also said the sentencing judge had considered probation reports that did not support further intervention, finding that Black had expressed intentions to change but had not demonstrated meaningful steps towards rehabilitation. The court rejected the argument that an entrenched addiction required a partly suspended sentence.
The court said it might have been better for the sentencing judge to state headline sentences and explain the mitigation more expressly. But it found the global sentence at the lower end of the range in light of the circumstances, particularly the seriousness of the final robbery, and dismissed the appeal.