The Court of Appeal quashed a four-year sentence imposed on a man who pleaded guilty to handling stolen property, then substituted a four-year term with the final year suspended.
The court delivered its ex-tempore judgment on 4 March 2019. It said the original sentencing judge had imposed four years, with the last 12 months suspended, after placing the offence in the “top range” of such offences. The appeal challenged the sentence as excessive and argued that the offence’s gravity, mitigation, the appellant’s age and his personal circumstances had not been properly assessed.
The judgment said 34 kayaks, paddles and a trailer were stolen from the South East Outdoor Educational Centre in Shielbaggan, Ramsgrange, County Wexford, during the early hours of 21 March 2016. Thirty-two kayaks and the other items were later found in Carrick-on-Suir; two kayaks were not recovered. The court recounted that photographs of the kayaks were found on the appellant’s phone and that he made admissions after his arrest. It also referred to a statement by his girlfriend that he was trying to sell the kayaks.
The Court of Appeal identified errors in the original sentencing process. The sentencing judge had not been given details of the sentence to which the new sentence was made consecutive, making it harder to assess the total period of imprisonment. The judge also proceeded on the basis that the maximum sentence was five years. The appeal court noted that the earlier sentence had already been served by the time the current sentence was imposed.
The court recognised mitigation including cooperation with Gardaí, a relatively early guilty plea, drug treatment and rehabilitation in prison, remorse, and the appellant’s wish to participate in raising his young child. It also noted 43 previous convictions, including convictions for theft, handling stolen property and burglary, which it treated as a serious aggravating factor.
The court assessed the offence as being in the higher end of the middle range and set a six-year headline sentence. After allowing for mitigation and the appellant’s continued progress in prison, it reduced the sentence to four years and suspended the final year on the same terms set by the Circuit Court. It ordered that the sentence be backdated and that a two-year period run from release from prison to 16 March 2017.