The Court of Appeal reduced a man’s four-year prison sentence for cultivating cannabis without a licence to three and a half years, finding that the original headline sentence was too high for an offence assessed as being at the lower end of the mid range.
The court also suspended the portion of the revised sentence that remained unserved. It said it had been told the appellant’s mother was seriously ill in Poland and that he was anxious to visit her soon, fearing she might not recover. The sentence was to run from the date set by the lower court.
The appellant had pleaded guilty and was convicted at Cavan Circuit Criminal Court on 25 May 2016. He was sentenced two days later. He appealed the sentence.
The Court of Appeal judgment said gardaí uncovered a cannabis grow house at Arva, County Cavan, on 5 November 2015. It contained 211 mature potted plants, with a stated street value of €268,000. The attic had been converted for cultivation and fitted with lighting and ventilation systems. Based on evidence before the sentencing court, the appellant’s involvement was assessed as that of a gardener.
The sentencing judge set a headline sentence of seven years before reducing it to four years, referring to that term as his “normal tariff” for someone caught in that situation. The Court of Appeal held that the offence had correctly been placed in the lower mid-range category, but that a seven-year headline sentence was inappropriate. It considered a headline sentence of five to five and a half years appropriate.
The court said the appellant was entitled to a substantial reduction for mitigating factors, including his guilty plea, cooperation with gardaí, lack of previous convictions, and status as a foreign national with little or no English who would serve a lengthy sentence in an Irish prison. The sentencing judge had also noted that he was a model prisoner, was married, and would face difficulties in prison as a foreign national with poor English.
The appellant had come to Ireland from Canada in early 2015. The judgment describes him as a Polish national. The lower court had recommended deportation; the appeal judgment records that this was challenged, but does not state that the Court of Appeal made a deportation order or ruled on that recommendation.