A MAN convicted of having a car bomb and submachine gun connected to a gang feud in Limerick had his 12-year sentence reduced to 10 at the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday.
Seán Smith (34), originally from England, with an address at Loughmore, Mungret, Co Limerick, was sentenced in 2004 for having the bomb, a submachine gun, a detonating cord and cocaine worth €35,000 at a house in Mungret on June 3rd, 2003. His trial heard he had refused an offer of €10,000 to plant a bomb in Limerick city, which was intended to hurt up to eight people.
Smith said he was told he would be shot by a man whom he named as "Skinny" if he told gardaí about the bomb.
However, he later told gardaí he did not "go around killing innocent people" and did not know who the bomb was intended for, only that it would "hurt four to eight people".
In jailing Smith, Judge Carroll Moran had said the explosives and the Sterling submachine gun were all connected to an ongoing feud in Limerick which had already claimed a number of lives.
The appeal court rejected Smith's appeal against conviction but ruled that the 12-year sentence was excessive and reduced it to eight years.
On the sentence, his counsel argued that there was nothing of a violent nature in Smith's past and that he operated at a very low level in relation to the people who were involved in the feud for which these materials were used.
Smith also had a chronic crack cocaine addiction, the appeal court heard.
John O'Sullivan, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, argued that there was ample evidence that Smith was a "ready and willing" custodian of the items.
The court, with Mr Justice Hugh Geoghegan presiding, and sitting with Mr Justice John Edwards and Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, found there was no error in the way the judge had explained concepts of possession and said the judge appeared impeccable in his charging of the jury.
However, in relation to sentence, the appeal court said it would reduce the sentence by two years, given all the circumstances and mitigating factors, including Smith's co-operation with gardaí and the fact that he was not a leader of the gang involved in the feud, his background and drug addiction.