The Court of Appeal has quashed fully suspended sentences imposed on a man who pleaded guilty to assault causing harm and producing a knife, and substituted concurrent two-year prison terms on each count.
The court delivered its judgment on 20 January 2020 after hearing an application by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), which argued that the sentences imposed by Waterford Circuit Court were unduly lenient. The appeal concerned the sentence, not the guilty pleas or convictions.
The offences arose from an attack in Dungarvan, County Waterford, on 18 December 2016. The judgment says the victim was lured to a remote location and stabbed six times, and also suffered head injuries. The respondent had pleaded guilty to both counts on 16 October 2018.
On 14 March 2019, the Circuit Court imposed two-year terms on each count, suspended in full for four years and running concurrently. The DPP argued that the judge had placed too much weight on the respondent’s age, plea and personal circumstances, and had failed to impose an effective deterrent for a serious, premeditated attack.
The Court of Appeal said the Circuit Court had correctly set a headline sentence of four and a half years, then reduced it to two and a half years in light of the respondent’s age—he was 17 at the time of the offences—and his plea. The sentencing judge had considered either a six-month prison term or a longer sentence suspended in full to encourage rehabilitation.
The appeal court held that the fully suspended sentence was unduly lenient and an error in principle. It found no wholly exceptional circumstances warranting suspension, and said the facts required a custodial sentence. It allowed the DPP’s application and quashed the original sentence.
The appeal court said that, had it sentenced the respondent at the time, it might have imposed two and a half to three years. Taking into account the disappointment of now facing custody after the delay, it imposed two years on each count, to run concurrently. The judgment does not state a separate outcome for any other matter.