The Court of Criminal Appeal has rejected the DPP's argument that 14-year sentences imposed on two men for the manslaughter of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe in 1996 were "unduly lenient".
The three-judge court refused the DPP's application to increase the sentences imposed on Pearse McCauley and Kevin Walsh for the killing of the detective during a raid on the post office at Adare, Co Limerick, on June 7th, 1996.
While describing what happened at Adare as "a callous disregard for human life" and indicating the court might not have interfered with a higher sentence of perhaps 17 years if such was imposed, the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Keane, said it was nonetheless difficult to argue that the 14-year sentences were inappropriate or unduly lenient. He also noted the sentences were among the longest imposed here for manslaughter.
McCauley (36), originally from Strabane, Co Tyrone, and Walsh (44) of Patrickswell, Co Limerick, were among four men charged with the capital murder of Det McCabe, and other offences.
Their trial opened before the non-jury Special Criminal Court in January 1999. On the 14th day, they pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Det McCabe and other offences. The plea was accepted. On February 5th, 1999, McCauley and Walsh were both jailed for 14 years. A third man, Michael O'Neill, was sentenced to 11 years while a fourth, Jeremiah Sheehy, was jailed for 12 years. All the sentences related to the manslaughter offence.
The DPP appealed against the "unduly lenient" sentences imposed on McCauley and Walsh but brought no appeal against the sentences on Sheehy and O'Neill.
Delivering the court's reserved judgment yesterday, the Chief Justice said if a sentence of 17 years had been imposed, it was unlikely it would have been interfered with on appeal. Nevertheless, it was difficult to categorise the sentences imposed, which amounted to more than 15 years including the time served prior to trial, as a "substantial" departure from what would be appropriate, he said. The sentences on Walsh and McCauley were among the longest imposed in modern times for the offence of manslaughter.
It was clear a long custodial sentence was appropriate for a crime which the court regarded as being at the most serious end of the scale of manslaughter offences, the Chief Justice added. It was also clear the Special Criminal Court appreciated fully the gravity of the offences.
It might very well be that had even heavier sentences been imposed, they could not have been interfered with by the appeal court, particularly in view of the record of the accused men and the serious nature of other offences which they asked to be taken into consideration.
However, it was not the function of the Court of Criminal Appeal on an application such as this to consider whether it might have imposed heavier sentences than those actually imposed. The question was not whether the sentences were lenient but whether they were "unduly lenient". The court might indeed regard the sentences as lenient and less than what individual members of the appeal court might have imposed had they been the trial judges, but that was not the correct test. The Chief Justice, with Mr Justice McCracken and Mr Justice O'Higgins, said the DPP had failed to establish the sentence actually imposed was "a substantial departure from what would be regarded as the appropriate sentence".
Earlier, outlining the background to the case, the Chief Justice said Det McCabe and Det Garda Benjamin O'Sullivan provided an armed escort for a post office cash and mail delivery to Adare post office on June 7th 1996. On arrival at Adare post office, men armed with firearms surrounded the Garda car. Shots were fired into the car by one of those men and Det McCabe was fatally wounded.