The Court of Appeal reduced Peter Kernan’s sentence for helping traffic people through Dublin Airport, allowing his appeal against severity and replacing a four-year term with three and a half years.
In a judgment delivered on 5 July 2019, the court said the sentencing judge should have given tangible recognition to Kernan’s significantly greater cooperation with authorities, including voluntary assistance on airport security. The sentence was to run from 23 March 2018.
Kernan had pleaded guilty to seven counts of trafficking illegal immigrants and seven further counts of facilitating their entry into the State. Thirteen other indictment counts were taken into consideration. The appeal judgment also records that he was sentenced in respect of 14 money-laundering offences, involving €40,366.06. The Circuit Criminal Court had imposed four years’ imprisonment and ordered confiscation of €10,000, £790 sterling and $284 US as proceeds of criminal conduct.
The Court of Appeal described the offending as a planned scheme with co-accused Frederick Chan to bypass immigration and customs controls at Dublin Airport. Kernan, an Aer Lingus catering-loading employee with access to airport areas, used his staff permit to help escort people past controls. The judgment said the trafficking conduct ran from December 2016 to January 2017; money-laundering offences were described as occurring between November 2014 and January 2017. It recorded 14 Western Union transactions to Kernan totalling €40,366 during the relevant period.
Kernan argued that his cooperation, health problems and personal circumstances warranted a lower sentence than Chan’s. The Director of Public Prosecutions opposed the appeal, arguing that the sentencing judge had considered Kernan’s circumstances and that Chan had distinct mitigating factors, including his foreign nationality and lack of connections in Ireland.
The appeal court said parity did not require identical sentences and had to be considered alongside other relevant factors. It noted that Chan had been sentenced for two money-laundering offences, while Kernan faced 14, and that the recorded values were €7,258.16 for Chan and €40,366.06 for Kernan. The court also said Kernan’s health conditions appeared well controlled on the medical evidence before it, and that Chan had made admissions relevant to the prosecution case.
The court concluded that Kernan’s voluntary assistance to gardaí and airport authorities was exceptional, comprehensive and distinct. It allowed the appeal, set aside the Circuit Criminal Court sentence and imposed a replacement term of three and a half years from 23 March 2018.