The Court of Appeal reduced Christopher McCarthy’s sentence for malicious damage from eight years to three years’ imprisonment, suspending the final 12 months on conditions that he stay away permanently from the injured party and from three named areas in Nenagh.
The court delivered its ex tempore judgment on 22 July 2016. McCarthy had appealed the sentence imposed after he pleaded guilty in the Circuit Criminal Court in Nenagh on 20 October 2015 to malicious damage and obstructing gardaí.
The original sentence was eight years for malicious damage, with the final three years suspended subject to several conditions. These included abstaining from alcohol, engaging with addiction and probation services, and placing himself on the homeless list before release. A concurrent three-month sentence was imposed for obstructing gardaí.
The judgment said McCarthy broke the back window of a home belonging to someone he knew, entered, and drank vodka in a bedroom. The property owner went to gardaí after seeing the break-in. When gardaí arrived, McCarthy became abusive and obstructed their attempts to arrest him.
The Court of Appeal noted McCarthy’s long record of previous convictions, including 27 for burglary and 15 for criminal damage, as well as his longstanding alcohol problem. It also recounted the sentencing judge’s consideration of his difficult background, homelessness, guilty plea, remorse and time spent on remand. The prosecution’s officer in charge had said gardaí did not see prison as a long-term solution.
McCarthy’s counsel argued that the eight-year sentence was disproportionate and that the sentencing judge had placed the offence close to the top of the available range. The respondent’s counsel did not press strongly for the sentence to be upheld. The Court of Appeal concluded there had been a “significant and substantial departure” from the appropriate sentence and invited further submissions before resentencing.
The court set aside the original sentence and substituted three years’ imprisonment. It suspended the final year on the stated conditions. The judgment records no separate substituted sentence for the obstruction offence.