The Court of Appeal found that a fully suspended three-year sentence for dangerous driving causing injury was unduly lenient, but did not send the respondent to prison. It reimposed the three-year sentence, suspended for three years, with additional conditions including weekly payments, community service and probation supervision.
The Director of Public Prosecutions had applied under section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1993 to review the sentence imposed after the respondent pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing injury and failing to offer assistance. The Circuit Criminal Court in Dublin sentenced him in May 2016. The appeal judgment was delivered on 6 February 2017 by Mr Justice Mahon, with Justices Birmingham and Sheehan also listed.
The Court of Appeal said the respondent was almost 18 and held a provisional licence when he drove his father’s car in Dublin on 6 February 2015. The judgment said he was driving at an excessive speed, without lights and after consuming alcohol when his car collided with another vehicle and then struck a pedestrian, Ms Eve Neylon, who was crossing lawfully. The judgment described her injuries as very serious and said they continued to affect her mobility, cause pain and restrict daily activities. She had been forced to give up her chosen career, and she and her partner had emigrated to Australia.
The DPP argued that the sentencing judge gave too much weight to mitigating factors and too little to aggravating circumstances, including alcohol, leaving the scene, driving uninsured and holding only a provisional licence. The Court of Appeal recognised the respondent’s youth, guilty plea, remorse, lack of previous convictions and character testimonials as significant mitigation. It also described the dangerous driving, leaving the scene and the lasting harm to Ms Neylon as serious aggravating factors.
The court said the three-year headline sentence was not inappropriate. Its concern was that the entire sentence had been suspended. It held that the case called for a custodial element of about 12 months, but concluded that sending the respondent to prison at that point would not best serve the public interest, having regard to the time he had remained at liberty and the risks of imprisonment for a young first-time offender.
The court therefore reimposed the three-year sentence, suspended for three years, on conditions that the respondent enter a €100 bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour; pay €50 a week for 72 weeks from 18 January 2017 to the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dun Laoghaire; undertake community service under the direction of a named school principal; and remain under Probation Service supervision for 18 months and cooperate with its requirements. The judgment described the payment condition as a significant penalty given the respondent’s stated social-welfare income and limited employment prospects.