The Court of Criminal Appeal has refused Derek Tighe leave to appeal a three-year prison sentence for his role in a robbery at the Ulster Bank branch in Dundrum Shopping Centre.
The court delivered judgment on 19 February 2004, dismissing an appeal from the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court’s refusal to grant leave. Tighe had pleaded guilty to the robbery, which took place on 19 June 2002.
The judgment said evidence indicated that Mark Doyle carried out the robbery while Tighe travelled to the scene as a front-seat passenger. Tighe remained outside the bank during the robbery. An investigating garda said he appeared to act as a lookout for gardaí and to ensure Doyle did not leave with the proceeds himself. Those were the garda’s account of Tighe’s role.
As gardaí approached the car, Tighe jumped out and tried to escape. He was arrested after a struggle on the forecourt of a nearby garage. The judgment said that, after being placed in a patrol car, he took crumpled notes from his jacket pocket and dropped them on the seat between himself and another prisoner. It also said he gave no assistance to gardaí during further investigations.
The court noted that Tighe was 34 and had two children, aged 12 and four, and 24 previous convictions, including burglary and larceny, drug-related and road traffic offences.
The sentencing judge had been told about sentences imposed on the other two people involved. The Director of Public Prosecutions said applications had been made to the Court of Criminal Appeal to review those sentences as unduly lenient. Tighe’s counsel had argued that the other sentences should be taken into account.
The appeal court said the trial judge had correctly sentenced Tighe without regard to the other sentences, because the pending reviews could otherwise have led to an unjustifiable difference between the sentences. Considering the seriousness of the offence, Tighe’s role and his previous record, the court found no error in principle in the sentencing approach and refused leave to appeal. It did not alter the three-year sentence.