The Court of Appeal has restructured Keith Hall’s 20-year sentence for the manslaughter of 16-year-old Melanie McNamara, suspending the final two years and six months while leaving the 20-year headline term intact.
Melanie was killed on February 8, 2012 while sitting in a parked car with two friends at Brookview Way in Tallaght. A shotgun was fired from a black jeep and struck her in the head. She died shortly afterwards in Tallaght Hospital.
Hall was not in the vehicle from which the fatal shot was fired. However, he had earlier agreed with others to throw a rock at a house to lure people outside so they could be shot. He knew that shooting was planned. The intended targets were said to have been connected to an earlier serious assault on Hall.
Hall also assisted significantly before and after the killing, including in disposing of the firearm and other items. He pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter, a plea accepted by the prosecution. He was sentenced to 20 years from February 21, 2012.
The Court of Appeal agreed that the offence was at the very high end of manslaughter and held that 20 years was an appropriate starting, or headline, sentence before mitigation.
The error arose in what happened after that point. The sentencing judge had not made clear what reduction was given for Hall’s guilty plea and cooperation. He had also wrongly treated Hall’s drug addiction and dysfunctional background as carrying little or no potential mitigating weight.
The appeal court said those factors did not excuse Hall’s role in the killing, but they were relevant to sentence. It also found that more consideration should have been given to rehabilitation, noting his remorse, family support and progress in prison.
The original sentence was therefore quashed and replaced with 20 years’ imprisonment, with the final two years and six months suspended.