Mark Kavanagh given five years with one suspended after sentence appeal

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Mark Kavanagh received concurrent five-year sentences, with one year suspended on each, for drugs and firearms offences following a successful appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions. Peart J imposed the replacement sentences, which were also backdated.

In the Court of Appeal judgment delivered on 8 June 2015, Sheehan J held that the original sentence was unduly lenient. The court also found that the firearm offence required a separate sentence.

Kavanagh pleaded guilty on 14 April 2014 to possessing controlled drugs for sale or supply under section 15A of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 and possessing a firearm in suspicious circumstances under section 27A of the Firearms Act 1964.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court originally sentenced him on 15 October 2014 to three-and-a-half years for the drugs offence. The offences relating to possession of the firearm and ammunition were taken into account.

Gardaí searched his home under warrant on 2 April 2013. He was present and cooperated. Six packages of cocaine and three packages of herbal cannabis were found in a back-garden shed. The cocaine was valued at €135,000 and the cannabis at €18,000. A very small quantity of Fluoroamphetamine was also recovered. The firearm was a revolver.

The DPP argued that excessive weight had been given to mitigation, that involvement in organised drug distribution had been overlooked, and that failing to impose a separate firearms penalty was an error.

Kavanagh submitted that the original judge had properly considered the offences, applicable minimum penalties, aggravating and mitigating factors, and his particular circumstances. He argued that the DPP should not raise interpretations of evidence absent from the sentencing hearing or criticise the sentence without having proposed an appropriate range. Sheehan J declined to bar submissions because they had not been made at sentencing.