The Court of Appeal found that suspended sentences imposed on Edward Collins and James Mallon for cocaine offences were unduly lenient, but ultimately reimposed those sentences with an additional requirement that each complete 240 hours of community service within 18 months.
The Director of Public Prosecutions had applied under section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1993 to review the sentences imposed by Cork Circuit Criminal Court on 23 April 2015. Collins and Mallon had pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine valued at an estimated €35,000, an offence under section 15A of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977. The offences were committed on 5 June 2014 at Blackpool Shopping Centre in Cork.
The original sentence for each man was five and a half years’ imprisonment, suspended for that period, with two years under Probation Service supervision. The DPP argued that the sentencing judge had given insufficient weight to the value of the cocaine, the men’s role in transporting it, their previous convictions and the presumptive minimum sentence. Counsel for both men submitted that the sentences properly reflected the seriousness of the offences and their personal circumstances.
The court said an undue-leniency review requires proof of a substantial departure from an appropriate sentence. It concluded that the sentencing judge had carefully balanced the case, but that the men’s circumstances did not justify wholly suspended sentences. The court said a two-year prison term would have been the minimum appropriate sentence in the circumstances and found the sentences imposed substantially departed from that standard.
That finding required the Court of Appeal to hold a fresh sentencing hearing. It considered updated probation reports and the men’s progress since the original sentences. Mallon had continued working, remained drug-free according to urine samples and become a father. Collins had continued to make progress and had not come to adverse attention from gardaí, though his report identified a moderate risk of reoffending in the following 12 months.
The court said the case merited a custodial element, but nearly two years had passed while both men pursued rehabilitation. It concluded there was little to be gained by requiring either to serve prison time. Instead, it reimposed each original five-and-a-half-year suspended sentence, adding 240 hours of community service for each man, to be completed within 18 months.