The most senior judge of the Central Criminal Court has suggested it may be time for the Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeal to conduct a review of sentencing principles in manslaughter cases.
Mr Justice Paul Carney
In a lecture to the University College Cork Law Faculty this evening, Mr Justice Paul Carney noted that, allowing for part suspension of many sentences, the average custodial sentence for manslaughter was six years.
"This is, of course, before the statutory remission of 25 per cent kicks in as of right, leaving four and a half years to be served on average for a vicious, wilful and gratuitous taking of human life," he said.
While sentences for murder are mandatory, that is not the case where the charge is manslaughter. Over a third of murder cases since 2000 have returned verdicts of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Mr Justice Carney noted the recent comments of Joan Deane of victims' group Ad Vic, who said the families of victims and the public at large frequently feel sentences for manslaughter are too lenient, with the penalties not reflecting the severity of the crime.
"I am bound by considerations of fealty and obedience to follow the judgments of Mr Justice Hardiman which are binding upon me as I am reminded from time to time. I think what I can do, however, is formulate what I believe Joan Deane would say were she the one who was giving this lecture.
"I believe that she would say that so far as wilful, violent, gratuitous homicides are concerned the courts are not dealing with them with the severity expected by the majority of right-thinking members of society who are fearful for their personal safety," he said.
"It is not for me to say that there should be a reassessment of the fundamental principles of sentencing in the light of what the Courts are having to deal with today. That is for the Supreme Court and the Court of Criminal Appeal whom it is my obligation in the scheme of things as a trial judge to respectfully follow and obey."
During his address, Mr Justice Carney said fatal stabbings were "now out of control".
He listed a number of cases where the manslaughter sentence imposed by the trial judge was subsequently reduced substantially by the Court of Criminal Appeal, where "it is more and more the case that appellate judges have never had the responsibility of conducting a criminal trial themselves".
Among them was a case involving Mr Justice Barry White, who imposed a sentence of 14 years for manslaughter. He had initially deemed a 20 year sentence appropriate, but reduced it due to mitigating circumstances.
"Judge White's sentence was structured so as to take account of such matters as he could find in favour of the accused as well as sending out the message that knife killing was not to be tolerated," Mr Justice Carney said.
However, Mr Justice Carney said, this was later cut to eight years by the CCA, despite the court describing the sentence as "conspicuous for its clarity" and being based on the "very laudable motive" of reducing knife-crime.
The CCA ruled the sentence was "wrong in principle and representing a departure without any supporting authority from the established principles of sentencing."