The Court of Appeal has dismissed John Reilly’s appeal against the severity of a 10-year sentence for an aggravated burglary at a family home in Fethard, Co Tipperary. The sentence, imposed in July 2019, was backdated to 14 March 2019, with its final two years suspended.
In an ex tempore judgment delivered on 19 November 2020, the court said the trial judge had correctly placed the offence at the bottom of the highest sentencing range. It found no error in fixing the headline sentence or in suspending the final two years to recognise mitigation and encourage rehabilitation.
The burglary took place at about 3.30am on 18 January 2018. The court’s account said Reilly arrived highly intoxicated and tried to force his way into the occupied home, demanding to speak to one of its residents. After the front door was secured, he smashed windows around the house with a hedge cutter taken from a garden shed. He later entered through a broken window, assaulted the homeowner and tried to stab him with a steak knife. The incident lasted 20 to 30 minutes. Damage to the house and car was valued at about €12,500.
The court described revenge as the motive for the entry, linked to the resident’s report to gardaí of an alleged burglary by Reilly. It said the householders had suffered lasting psychological effects and remained fearful. The court also noted the threat that Reilly would return.
Reilly’s appeal argued that the sentencing judge had given inadequate weight to mitigating circumstances and too much weight to aggravating factors and victim impact statements. The court rejected a submission that the judge might have treated an earlier burglary of the home as an aggravating factor, saying there was no basis for that speculation.
The judgment recorded Reilly’s early guilty plea, remorse, cooperation with gardaí, traumatic childhood, mental health difficulties and addiction as mitigating circumstances. It also cited the occupied dwelling, revenge motive, extensive damage, the prolonged and terrifying nature of the incident, the use of two weapons, the harm to the householders and the premeditation among the aggravating factors.
The appeal court concluded that the trial judge had taken the relevant factors into account and dismissed the appeal. The 10-year headline sentence, including the suspended final two years, therefore remained in place.