The Court of Appeal has quashed a sentence for an assault on a taxi driver as unduly lenient and resentenced David Murphy to four years’ imprisonment, with the final two years suspended on the same conditions imposed by the Circuit Criminal Court.
The judgment, delivered on 22 July 2020, followed an application by the Director of Public Prosecutions under section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1993. Murphy had pleaded guilty to assault contrary to section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1999. In February 2020, the Circuit Criminal Court imposed a sentence of three years and six months, suspending the final two years and nine months.
The assault happened in the early hours of 21 March 2015 on Slade Road, Saggart, County Dublin. The taxi driver, Kevin O’Brien, had collected passengers in Clondalkin and was driving towards Citywest. The court heard that Murphy pulled the handbrake, struck O’Brien on the head with a beer bottle and threatened to stab him with part of the broken bottle. O’Brien later reported the incident to gardaí.
O’Brien described continuing pain and psychological effects, fear for his family and concern about working at night. He was unable to work for some days and reported a loss of about €800. He replaced his taxi with one fitted with a protective screen.
The court identified the driver’s vulnerability while working alone at night, the unprovoked attack, Murphy’s intoxication, the impact on O’Brien and his family, and Murphy’s offending while on bail among the aggravating factors. Murphy had 41 previous convictions, including convictions for violent offences. Mitigating factors included his guilty plea, apparent contrition and efforts towards reform. The court noted that the plea was entered after the trial date had been set.
The appeal court found no error in the original headline sentence or in the three-and-a-half-year term after mitigation. It ruled, however, that suspending such a large part of that sentence was unjustified on the evidence and amounted to an error of principle. It quashed the sentence and resentenced Murphy.
The court said the four-year headline sentence remained appropriate, but suspended the final two years to support rehabilitation. It also took account of the expectation of release created by the original sentence and Murphy’s progress in prison, explaining that those circumstances affected the sentence on appeal. The judgment said a substantially higher prison term would have been appropriate without that special factor.