Martin Maughan loses appeal over concurrent endangerment sentences

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

Martin Maughan lost his appeal against two concurrent five-year prison sentences for endangerment. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal in a judgment delivered by Birmingham P. on 22 October 2018.

The sentences were imposed at the Circuit Court in Castlebar on 14 June 2017, following his conviction after a contested trial. One count concerned reversing onto a footpath near two women; the other concerned driving at excessive speed around a sharp bend on the wrong side of the road.

The judgment said that on 11 February 2016 Maughan reversed at speed onto the footpath in Kiltimagh, Co Mayo, almost colliding with the two women. He then drove off at speed. At Canbrack and Derrynaned, he took a sharp bend on the wrong side of the road, forcing oncoming vehicles onto the verge. He was arrested on 15 April 2016 and denied the allegations.

On appeal, Maughan accepted that the driving was very dangerous but argued that the facts were not at the most extreme end of the offence. He submitted that the sentencing judge had erred in placing each offence close to the top of the scale.

The Court of Appeal considered the sentences severe but held that they were not outside the available range. It cited aggravating factors, numerous previous road traffic offences, multiple disqualification orders in force at the time and the absence of significant mitigation.