A violent criminal who stamped on a man’s head in an attack on New Year’s Day in Dublin city centre, leaving the victim with a significant brain injury, will serve an extra nine months in prison after the State objected to the undue leniency of his two-and-a-half year sentence.
The victim, who was left unconscious on Aston Quay in the middle of the day, suffered a bleed on the brain and required a craniotomy and 96 staples in his head following the attack.
The man had three pints of blood removed in hospital and has been left with a significant physical depression on the right side of his skull. He continues to suffer a marked decline in cognitive function, including memory loss, slurred speech and difficulty sleeping, the court heard.
Jordan Maguire (24), of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm at the corner of Aston Quay and Price’s Lane on January 1st, 2023. He had been drinking and taking drugs for 48 hours prior to the offence, a previous hearing was told.
Delivering judgement at the Court of Appeal on Monday, Court President Mr Justice George Birmingham said Judge Orla Crowe had erred in setting the headline sentence for Maguire at four years before reducing this to three years, with the final six months suspended.
Quashing the original term, Mr Justice Birmingham set a headline sentence of five years before imposing a sentence of three years and nine months with the final six months suspended, meaning Maguire will serve three years and three months in prison.
Carol Doherty BL, for the State, had argued that the sentencing judge erred by setting a headline sentence of four years imprisonment instead of the maximum of five years available.
She said the headline sentence in the case should have reflected the serious nature of the offence having regard to the effect on the victim and Maguire’s culpability.
Ms Doherty submitted that the headline sentence, together with the reduction to three years, the suspension of the final six months of the sentence and the backdating of the prison term to July 24th, 2023, rendered the term unduly lenient.
Parameters
Oisin Clarke BL, for Maguire, said the four-year headline sentence set by the judge was “within the parameters of what is available”.
He said that while he did not shy away from the fact that this had clearly been a very serious offence and one in which the sentencing judge could have started with a headline sentence of five years, this was not a “magical number”.
He said there was case law to show the court did not have to start at five years and said there had been no error.
Mr Clarke said this was not an “off the cuff” sentence, but rather was one in which the sentencing judge took time to consider the matter. He said the judge had taken into account all the relevant factors in the case, including the mitigating and aggravating factors, before coming to her conclusion.
In delivering the court’s ruling on the matter, Mr Justice Birmingham said that by the time of conviction, Maguire had some 45 convictions recorded, including those for robbery, possession of knives, criminal damage and one offence involving a threat to kill.
He noted that in seeking to review the sentence, the director said the sentencing judge would not only have been justified in setting a headline of five years but that “the failure to set it at five years was in fact an error”.
He said it was the court’s view that this offending was extremely serious and fell on the border or very close to the border of what would be dealt with by way of section 4, the offence of causing serious harm.
He said, in the court’s view, this was a case where the headline should have been set at five years and should not have been set at a lower figure.
“The view we have formed makes it inevitable that we must intervene,” he said before proceeding to quash the original sentence.
In resentencing Maguire, the judge set a headline sentence of five years before reducing this by 25% after taking mitigating factors, most notably the respondent’s plea of guilty, into account giving an adjusted sentence of three years and nine months.
He said the court would suspend the final six months of this and would backdate it to July 24th, 2023, when the plea of guilty was entered.
A Dublin Circuit Criminal Court sentencing hearing was told gardaí were called to find the victim lying unconscious and covered in blood shortly after 12.30pm. An updated medical report presented to the court said the man had a significant bleed to the brain and required a piece of his skull to be removed.
Prosecuting counsel said the attack has had a long-term impact on the man, who has difficulties with his memory and feels very depressed and alone.
His employment has been affected, and he can no longer mind his grandchildren, to whom he is very close, the court heard.
Maguire was living on the street and had been drinking and taking drugs for 48 hours prior to the offence, the court heard.
