A DUBLIN man jailed for 11 years for the manslaughter of an Estonian national, who was taken from his car and beaten to death in full view of his girlfriend, has had the suspended part of his sentence doubled on appeal.
The Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday suspended four years of the 13-year sentence handed down to Ian Daly (27), Moatview Drive, Priorswood, by Mr Justice George Birmingham at the Central Criminal Court in October 2009.
Daly had pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Valeri Ranert (28), Westend Village, Blanchardstown, on April 30th, 2007, at Naul Road, Swords, and had originally received a sentence of 13 years with two suspended.
Patrick Gageby SC, for Daly, told the court the judge had paid “insufficient attention” to Daly’s plea of guilty and failed to give practical effect to it by suspending just two years of his sentence. He said Daly, who had 65 previous convictions, had no previous convictions for violence-related matters and evidence had been given that he was a man who “had a conscience”.
Mr Ranert was chatting with his girlfriend in a lay-by at the back of Dublin airport in the early hours of the morning of April 30th when a gang smashed the windows of his car, dragged him to the ground and kicked him to death.
The court heard the force of the kick that broke the driver’s side window was sufficient to give Mr Ranert concussion, if not render him unconscious.
The three-judge appeal court found that the sentencing judge had erred in principle by failing to give due weight to Daly’s plea of guilty and the admissions he had made to gardaí.
Mr Justice Liam McKechnie, presiding, with Mr Justice Declan Budd and Mr Justice Daniel O’Keeffe, said the attack was one of “pure gratuitous violence”. He said it was “highly unlikely” a conviction could have been secured without Daly’s admission and this was a “striking” mitigating factor.