The Court of Appeal quashed a sentence it found unduly lenient for a man who pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of his friend, then imposed a four-and-a-half-year sentence that it reduced to two years and suspended in full for three years.
The court said the original sentence’s two-and-a-half-year starting point was too low and that suspending the whole term amounted to a 100% reduction in custody. It held that the sentence’s structure failed to reflect the seriousness of the offending and the need for general deterrence. The judges said that, if sentencing in the first instance, they would have considered a custodial element appropriate.
The case arose from a crash on rural roads near Garrykennedy in the early hours of 30 June 2019. The respondent, Phelim Cody, was driving an old car being restored by him, with two friends as passengers. The court said the car was defective, uninsured and without an NCT; it had underinflated tyres and no rear seats or seatbelts. Cody’s blood alcohol reading was 188mg per 100ml of blood, and cannabis was also detected. The car was travelling slowly on a short trip when it hit the roadside, crossed the road and overturned. Stephen Gleeson was thrown from the car and died. The other occupants were not injured.
The Court of Appeal placed the offending in the mid-range and said the aggravating factors included intoxication and driving an unroadworthy vehicle. It also considered the short distance, low speed, absence of previous convictions, guilty plea, immediate admissions, remorse, and Cody’s mental health and rehabilitation. The court set a headline sentence of four-and-a-half years, then reduced it by two-and-a-half years to reflect what it called exceptional mitigation.
The judges found special reasons and particularly exceptional circumstances to suspend the remaining two-year term. They cited Cody’s ongoing mental health difficulties, his efforts since the original sentence to work, study and address those difficulties, and the risk that imprisonment would further damage his mental health. They also took account of the Gleeson family’s compassionate approach. The court concluded that ordering him to serve time would not be in the interests of justice.
The two-year sentence is suspended for three years on the same conditions as the original suspended sentence: good behaviour and remaining drug-free. The four-year driving disqualification remains in force.