The Court of Appeal reduced one sentence imposed on Luke Barrett for a series of Limerick offences, finding that a four-year term for a 2018 robbery was excessive in light of his youth and lack of previous convictions.
In an ex tempore judgment delivered on 4 April 2022, the court allowed his appeal against the severity of sentence. It quashed the four-year sentence for the robbery at the Corner Deli in Newcastle West and resentenced him to three years’ imprisonment. The court said the sentences imposed on the City case counts remained unchanged and consecutive to the County case sentences.
Barrett was 18 at the time of the offences. He had pleaded guilty to two counts in the County case and four counts in the City case. The County case concerned a 6 July 2018 robbery at the Corner Deli, where proprietor Ian McIntyre was robbed of €350 after a knife was produced. The appeal judgment said Barrett was identified on CCTV, admitted the offence and told Gardaí it was connected to a drug debt.
The City case covered two thefts in August 2018, an attempted robbery at Top Oil on Lock Quay and a robbery at a Subway on Chapel Street. The attempted robbery involved a knife and threats to kill a shop worker; the robbery at Subway resulted in €80 being taken. The sentencing judge had described the offending as serious, with threatened violence, weapons and targeted premises among the aggravating factors.
The judge also considered mitigation, including Barrett’s cooperation, early guilty pleas, lack of previous convictions, remorse and engagement in custody with an Alternative to Violence Programme. The judge imposed concurrent sentences within each case, with the City case sentences consecutive to those in the County case. The effective sentence was described at the start of the appeal judgment as six and a half years, while counsel’s submission later referred to an aggregate eight-year sentence before accounting for suspended time.
The Court of Appeal made no criticism of the sentences on the City case counts. It ordered that the last two years of the sentences on the City robbery and attempted robbery counts be suspended, replacing the previous suspension of 18 months. The suspension is subject to good behaviour and supervision by the Probation and Welfare Service, including compliance with its lawful instructions.