Prosecutors succeed in appeal against teenager’s attempted murder sentence

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

Prosecutors succeeded in an undue-leniency appeal against the sentence imposed on a teenage boy who tried to murder Stephanie Ng. The Court of Appeal was due to decide the increased sentence the following day.

The proceedings were reported on 28 July 2020. The Director of Public Prosecutions had successfully sought a review earlier that month, arguing that a review of the original sentence after five years was too early.

The boy pleaded guilty to attempted murder. In November 2019, Mr Justice Michael White sentenced him at the Central Criminal Court to 11 years’ detention, with a review to commence after five years on 1 January 2023.

In December 2017, the boy lured Ms Ng to an isolated area at the seafront on Queen’s Road, Dún Laoghaire. He was 15 when he grabbed her from behind, choked her and attacked her with a knife. The Court of Appeal found that planning and premeditation placed the offence at the high end of the spectrum for attempted murder.

At the appeal hearing, his father apologised to Ms Ng. He said he regretted that his son had not been hospitalised or given the correct medication earlier and felt a high dose of antidepressants may have induced the manic episode during which he attacked her. He stressed that none of this excused what happened.

Mr Justice George Birmingham, sitting with Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy, said the court would give its decision the following day.