The Court of Appeal has increased the sentence for a machete attack on a 16-year-old in his Dundalk home, after finding that the original sentencing judge wrongly reduced the starting point because the offender was 20 and therefore an adult.
The court quashed the sentence imposed on Dean Dullaghan and resentenced him to eight and a half years’ imprisonment, suspending the final two and a half years on the same terms and conditions as before. The custodial component is six years, subject to compliance with the suspension conditions after release. The sentence is backdated in the same manner as the original sentence.
Dullaghan had been convicted after trial of assault causing serious harm and aggravated burglary. The attack took place on 25 January 2020. The injured party was asleep at home when Dullaghan struck his feet with a machete and then cut his knee. When the injured party jumped from bed, Dullaghan tried to hit him in the head. The injured party raised his hand and suffered a serious forearm injury.
Medical evidence recorded a fractured ulna, damage to muscles and a nerve, and surgery to repair the injury. At the original sentencing, the court was told that the injured party was unlikely to regain full function in his right hand and that significant scarring appeared permanent. The injured party did not attend the sentencing hearing or give evidence at trial; his statement to gardaí was admitted under section 16 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006.
The sentencing judge imposed six and a half years, with the final two and a half years suspended. The Court of Appeal said the judge erred by lowering the headline sentence on account of Dullaghan’s age. It said his youth and personal circumstances could be considered as mitigation later in the sentencing process, but that the headline sentence for the violent offending should reflect adult culpability and the harm caused. That error made the original sentence unduly lenient.
The appeal court set a new headline sentence of 10 years. It then allowed an 18-month reduction for mitigation, taking account of material before the sentencing judge and further information, including Dullaghan’s engagement with the Alternatives to Violence programme and a job offer awaiting him. The court also maintained the suspension of the final two and a half years on the original terms. The judgment records that those terms included keeping the peace and being of good behaviour, probation supervision after release, and compliance with addiction-related appointments, treatment and therapy.