The Court of Appeal has refused a Director of Public Prosecutions application to review as unduly lenient the sentences imposed on Jake O’Sullivan for drug and road traffic offences.
In a judgment delivered on 12 March 2024, the court said the sentences were “very lenient” but concluded they were not a substantial departure from the norm. The application was refused, leaving the sentences in place.
O’Sullivan was sentenced by Cork Circuit Criminal Court on 16 May 2023. For possessing drugs worth at least €13,000 for sale or supply, he received three years’ imprisonment, backdated to 2 February 2023, with credit for time served on remand. For unlawfully taking a vehicle, he received a consecutive 12-month sentence, suspended in full for two years on his own bond of €100. Other road traffic counts were taken into consideration, alongside driving disqualifications.
The road traffic offences included seven counts of dangerous driving, as well as driving without a licence and insurance. The Court of Appeal said they occurred in July 2022 while O’Sullivan was on bail in the drugs case. Sentencing evidence described a motorcycle reported stolen in Cork and a pursuit during which the rider drove on the wrong side of roads before losing control and falling. The judgment says gardaí identified the rider as O’Sullivan.
The prosecution argued that the sentencing judge had set headline sentences too low and given excessive weight to mitigation. At the appeal hearing, its principal concern was that the sentence for the road traffic offences was wholly suspended.
The appeal court acknowledged the concern, noting that the suspended sentence’s consecutive character would have practical effect only if O’Sullivan were later required to serve it. It also noted previous relevant convictions, including two for drug possession for sale or supply and seven for unlawful taking.
The court said the case was finely balanced and that leniency alone was not enough to justify an increase: the sentences had to represent a substantial departure from the norm. It gave weight to the sentencing judge’s reasons and to evidence of guilty pleas, cooperation and steps towards rehabilitation, including attendance at Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous and efforts to access treatment. Evidence also described an apprenticeship and support from O’Sullivan’s mother.
The court found no error of principle in the sentencing judge’s decision to prioritise rehabilitation in the circumstances. It stressed that the suspended sentence remains in force and could have to be served if its terms are breached. The judgment concerns only the drug and road traffic indictments; a separate violent disorder matter was outside the DPP’s application.