The Court of Criminal Appeal upheld Darren Larkin’s convictions for attempted murder and two firearms offences, but reduced his sentences. It replaced a life sentence for attempted murder and concurrent 20-year terms for the firearms offences with concurrent terms of 15 years and 10 years respectively.
A jury in the Central Criminal Court convicted Larkin on 23 April 2007 of attempting to murder security guard Akef Alquasar at Leisureplex in Blanchardstown Shopping Centre on 20 February 2006. It also convicted him of possessing a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life. The sentencing judge imposed the original terms on 4 May 2007.
Larkin did not dispute that Alquasar had been shot, but denied being the gunman. His conviction appeal challenged the admission of evidence from two gardaí who identified him in CCTV footage. The Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed that challenge. It said the officers’ recognition evidence came from their community policing work and that the trial judge had properly weighed its value against potential prejudice. The judge also warned the jury that the officers knew Larkin was already suspected in the case and told them to assess whether their evidence was reliable.
The court also rejected Larkin’s argument that evidence about local gun crime should not have been considered at sentencing. Detective Inspector Sherry had given evidence of firearms incidents, murders and firearm possession charges in the Blanchardstown area. The appeal court said the sentencing judge was entitled to consider that evidence when imposing a sentence with a deterrent element. It also said the judge could consider Larkin’s 35 previous convictions, recorded by the court as accumulated by the age of 23, and the impact on Alquasar and his family.
However, the appeal court found that the sentencing judge’s final remarks wrongly treated attempted murder as effectively equivalent to murder. It said Alquasar’s survival was a factor that should result in a somewhat lesser sentence, although it did not lessen Larkin’s culpability.
The court therefore varied the sentences to 15 years for attempted murder and 10 years for each firearms offence, all to run concurrently from the same date specified by the sentencing judge. The conviction appeal failed; the sentence appeal succeeded to that extent.