The Court of Appeal has quashed fully suspended sentences imposed on Mark Harris for possessing drugs for sale or supply and for possessing the proceeds of criminal conduct. It resentenced him to four and a half years’ imprisonment for the drug offence, with the final 18 months suspended on conditions.
The judgment, delivered by McCarthy J on 24 October 2024, followed an application by the Director of Public Prosecutions to review the sentences as unduly lenient. The court found that the sentencing judge was entitled to set a seven-year headline sentence and reduce it to four and a half years for mitigation, but erred by suspending the whole term. The court said the case did not meet the high threshold of special and wholly exceptional circumstances required for a fully suspended sentence.
Harris had pleaded guilty to possessing a controlled drug worth €13,000 or more for sale or supply, and to possessing property that was the proceeds of criminal conduct. The sentencing judge had also taken six further drug counts into consideration. In October 2023, that judge imposed concurrent sentences of four and a half years and two and a half years respectively, suspending both in full.
The Court of Appeal recounted evidence that Gardaí searching a temporary dwelling linked to Harris in June 2021 found cannabis resin, cocaine and weighing scales in a caravan, and cannabis herb in a nearby car. A search of a separate mobile home found €22,450. The drugs’ combined estimated street value was €478,391. In interviews, Harris admitted holding the drugs for others and said the cash was drug money intended for people whose identities were not established in the judgment. He said his payment was the discharge of a drug-related debt of about €10,000.
The sentencing judge had considered his guilty pleas, cooperation, rehabilitation, lack of relevant previous convictions and difficult personal circumstances. The Court of Appeal also noted his continued engagement with probation and health services after the original sentence, progress in recovery, and positive evidence about his work and family life. It held those factors supported departing from the presumptive minimum and suspending part of the sentence, but did not justify suspending all of it.
The final 18 months are suspended for two years from Harris’s release. For one year after release, he must be supervised by the Probation Service, follow its directions, keep the peace and be of good behaviour. The court took the money laundering offence into consideration when sentencing for the drug offence and imposed no separate sentence for it.