The Court of Appeal replaced Blake Tobin’s lifetime driving disqualification with a 40-year ban, while upholding the two-year prison term imposed for dangerous driving and related offences.
In an ex tempore judgment delivered on 23 January 2017, the court said the lifetime ban was unnecessarily severe in the absence of anyone being seriously injured or killed, regardless of how the appellant’s rehabilitation or personal circumstances might change in later life. The replacement disqualification runs from 10 February 2016, the date of sentencing.
A jury at the Circuit Criminal Court in Dublin had found Tobin guilty, and he was convicted on 1 February 2016. The offences occurred on 17 June 2012 in Clonee and Blanchardstown, County Dublin. Gardaí pursued an Audi A3 that had overtaken them at high speed. The car travelled at speeds of up to 160kph, reversed into a garda patrol car after being stopped in Finglas, then drove off again. The judgment said it later travelled at high speed on the wrong side of the road, mounted footpaths and drove dangerously through housing estates. After his arrest, Tobin was found to have 243mg of alcohol per 100ml of urine.
The offences included multiple counts of dangerous driving, driving under the influence of alcohol, driving without a licence or insurance, and failing to produce those documents. The sentencing judge imposed six-month terms on several dangerous-driving counts, directing four terms to run consecutively for an overall prison sentence of two years.
On appeal, Tobin challenged the maximum sentences, the consecutive terms, and the lifetime ban. He argued that the sentencing judge had failed to credit his rehabilitation efforts and that the consecutive sentences breached sentencing principles. The prosecution submitted that the judge had discretion to impose consecutive terms and had adequately explained the decision.
The Court of Appeal held that the maximum six-month terms were within the sentencing judge’s discretion given the seriousness of the offences. It also found no error of principle in imposing consecutive sentences. The court cited the exceptionally dangerous and prolonged driving across residential suburbs, the low maximum sentence for each offence, and Tobin’s relevant previous convictions and driving disqualifications. It said the danger to road users, pedestrians and gardaí was significant and that the absence of serious injury or death was down to good fortune.
The judgment said custodial sentences were inevitable, but identified the combination of maximum and consecutive terms as the main issue in the appeal. The court’s stated order changed the driving disqualification to 40 years from 10 February 2016; it did not set aside the two-year prison term.