The Court of Appeal increased the custodial term to be served by Leon Byrne from three and a half years to five years after allowing the Director of Public Prosecutions’ review of sentences imposed for three offences. The court found the sentences for robbery, burglary and aggravated burglary unduly lenient, but suspended the final two years of the revised seven-year aggregate term on conditions.
Byrne had pleaded guilty to robbery, aggravated burglary and assault causing harm on one indictment, and burglary and related offences on another. The offences were committed while he was on bail for the robbery. At sentencing in July 2017, the trial court imposed concurrent sentences of four years and four and a half years for the aggravated burglary and burglary, respectively, with the final three years of each suspended. Those sentences were consecutive to a two-year sentence for robbery. An 18-month sentence for assault causing harm was concurrent with the aggravated burglary sentence.
The Court of Appeal said the three-year headline sentence set for the robbery was far too low. The victim was held by the neck, robbed of his phone and wallet, and threatened with death. The court set a five-year headline sentence, reduced it by two years for mitigation, then cut the aggregate term by one year to account for totality.
For the burglary of an elderly taxi driver’s home, the court set an eight-year headline sentence, reduced to five years after mitigation. The driver was threatened by two intruders, one carrying a knife; cash was taken, and his taxi was used to leave the scene. He suffered a heart attack during the incident. The court also set an eight-year headline sentence for the aggravated burglary of a couple’s home, reducing it to five years. The intruder entered their bedroom armed with a broken tile, threatened them, and later used a hammer. The 18-month assault sentence for striking a Garda during an escape attempt remained unchanged.
The court said the original headline sentences for the two home burglaries were significantly below the norm and that suspending most of each sentence produced excessive discounts. It directed that the sentences for those offences run concurrently with each other and consecutively to the robbery sentence. After adjusting the aggregate term to seven years and suspending its final two years, the court said Byrne would serve five years if he complied with the suspension conditions. The conditions were those imposed by the trial court, including probation supervision and participation in addiction, education and victim-awareness work.