Report on Mandatory Sentences - Law Reform Commission

should apply. Thus, it has been noted that an early guilty plea merits more credit than a late guilty plea 51
and that an accused who voluntarily pleads guilty will be given more credit than an accused who pleads
guilty having been caught red-handed. 52
4.33 The Court of Criminal Appeal has, however, cautioned against treating a guilty plea, in and of
itself, as an exceptional and specific circumstance. In The People (DPP) v Ducque, 53 the Court observed:
“First of all there is nothing exceptional about a plea of guilty, it is one of the commonest
occurrences in any criminal trial. Secondly, it seems to be at least implied in the judgment of this
court delivered by Hardiman J in Botha ... that importance must be attached to the conjunctive
‘and, if so’ in the statutory provision so that a plea of guilty can only be relevant to an escape from
the mandatory minimum sentence if there are other circumstances which effectively can render
the combination of the plea of guilty and those circumstances to be exceptional circumstances.
These can include the stage at which the accused indicated the intention to plead guilty, the
circumstances in which the indication was given and whether that person materially assisted in
the investigation of the offence.”
Thus, the courts will, more often than not, consider a guilty plea in addition to other factors such as
material assistance. 54 The courts may also consider whether there is some additional factor which
endows the guilty plea with exceptionality, such as where it is particularly early, 55 lightens the workload of
the courts or assists the prosecution’s case. 56
4.34 While a guilty plea may result in the imposition of a sentence lower than the presumptive
minimum, an accused who pleads “not guilty” will not automatically receive a sentence of at least 10
years. 57 Similarly, it has been noted that an accused who decides to plead ‘not guilty’ should not be
penalised with a more severe sentence. 58
4.35 In a 2001 Department of Justice report, 59 McEvoy concluded that section 27 of the Misuse of
Drugs Act 1977 had been reasonably successful in its operation in so far as it had encouraged a very
high rate of guilty pleas. During the period November 1999 to May 2001, in all but one of 55 cases, the
accused had pleaded guilty. This he attributed to the fact that a conviction following a “not guilty” plea
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See: The People (DPP) v Godspeed Court of Criminal Appeal 13 July 2009; The People (DPP) v Coles [2009]
IECCA 144; The People (DPP) v Brodigan [2008] IECCA 127; and The People (DPP) v Benjamin Court of
Criminal Appeal 14 January 2002.
The People (DPP) v Delaney [2010] IECCA 57; The People (DPP) v Anderson [2010] IECCA 46; The People
(DPP) v Keogh [2009] IECCA 128; The People (DPP) v Nelson Court of Criminal Appeal 31 July 2008; The
People (DPP) v Kinahan [2008] IECCA 5; The People (DPP) v Lernihan [2007] IECCA 21; The People (DPP)
v Ducque [2005] IECCA 92; The People (DPP) v Galligan Court of Criminal Appeal 23 July 2003; The People
(DPP) v Henry Court of Criminal Appeal 15 May 2002; and The People (DPP) v Ormonde [2011] IECCA 46.
The People (DPP) v Ducque [2005] IECCA 92.
See: The People (DPP) v Renald Court of Criminal Appeal 23 November 2001; The People (DPP) v McGrane
[2010] IECCA 8; The People (DPP) v Kinahan; [2008] IECCA 5; The People (DPP) v Howard and McGrath
Court of Criminal Appeal 29 July 2005; The People (DPP) v Botha Court of Criminal Appeal 19 January 2004;
The People (DPP) v Galligan Court of Criminal Appeal 23 July 2003; The People (DPP) v Alexiou [2003] 3 IR
513; The People (DPP) v Benjamin Court of Criminal Appeal 14 January 2002; and The People (DPP) v
Hogarty Court of Criminal Appeal 21 December 2001.
The People (DPP) v Dermody [2007] 2 IR 622.
The People (DPP) v Farrell [2010] IECCA 116.
Smith “Sentencing Section 15A Offences” (2010) 20(1) ICLJ 8; and The People (DPP) v Duffy Court of
Criminal Appeal 21 December 2001. See also: The People (DPP) v Malric [2011] IECCA 99.
The People (DPP) v Shekale [2008] IECCA 28; and The People (DPP) v Byrne [2012] IECCA 72.
McEvoy Research for the Department of Justice on the Criteria applied by the Courts in sentencing under
s.15A of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 (as amended) (Department of Justice, 2001).
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