THE COURT of Criminal Appeal has doubled to four years the two-year prison sentence imposed on a Limerick man who admitted having a rifle with a telescopic sight and ammunition.
The rifle was found in a city where there were elements who regarded life as "quite cheap", Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman said. Anyone caught storing or possessing illegal weapons for themselves or others, even for a brief time, must expect to be "severely treated" by the courts if detected, he warned.
Peter O'Brien (22), Delmege Park, Moyross, Limerick, had pleaded guilty last year to having the Remington bolt action precision rifle and 11 rounds of ammunition. These were found following a Garda search in September 2006 of his house at Delmege Park.
O'Brien claimed he had the rifle for his own protection because he had felt threatened after reading a poem at the funeral of a murdered gangland victim, who was his childhood friend.
Judge Carroll Moran sentenced O'Brien to two years in jail, and he was set to be released later this week. The DPP appealed the sentence on the grounds it was unduly lenient.
Yesterday, the three-judge Court of Criminal Appeal, with Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman presiding and sitting with Mr Justice Liam McKechnie and Mr Justice John Edwards, agreed the sentence was unduly lenient and said a sentence of four years was more appropriate.
Mr Justice Hardiman said this was "a troubling case". The rifle was worth €10,000 with a range of up to a mile plus paraphernalia including a telescopic sight worth €4,000.
The court accepted O'Brien had no previous convictions, had held down steady employment, came from a good family and had acted naively after he genuinely felt under threat.
However, Mr Justice Hardiman said O'Brien was found in possession of a "frightening" weapon in a city which contained elements who considered life to be "quite cheap".
O'Brien claimed he acquired the weapon as he was afraid of "extremely sinister, dangerous individuals" who saw him as a target after he read a poem at the funeral of Frankie Ryan, who was killed in a feud-related shooting in Moyross on September 17th, 2006.
O'Brien was asked by the Ryan family to read out a poem at the funeral Mass, the court heard. As a result of that, O'Brien felt under great threat from "certain individuals". Following his arrest, he told gardaí he was prepared to use the weapon in self-defence if somebody "came after him".