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Court of Appeal: Man’s lifetime ban from driving reduced to 40-year disqualification

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A man who was given a lifelong ban from driving has had his disqualification reduced to one of forty years in the Court of Appeal.

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About this case:

The man also challenged the severity of the two-year custodial sentence imposed upon him in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, arguing that the sentencing judge made an error in principle in directing that four six-month sentences should be served consecutively – however, this aspect of the appeal was rejected by the three-judge Court of Appeal, with Mr Justice Mahon finding the man’s 54 previous convictions to be a justifying factor.

Background

On 17th June 2012, Gardaí pursued a vehicle driven at high speed by Mr Blake Tobin, but it failed to stop, and continued through country roads at speeds of up to 160 kph before it was stopped in Finglas. At this point, Mr Tobin reversed into a gardaí patrol car, and again took off at high speed on the wrong side of the road, mounting footpaths and driving dangerously within housing estates.

Following his arrest Mr Tobin was found to have a concentration of 243 mg. of alcohol for 100 ml. of urine.

The Court heard that Mr Tobin had fifty-four previous convictions, including a significant number of road traffic offences, the possession of knives, possession of drugs, and assault.

On 1st February 2016, Mr Tobin was convicted at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of:

  1. Multiple counts of dangerous driving contrary to s. 53(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1961 as substituted by s. 4 of the Road Traffic (No. 2) Act 2011.

  2. Driving under the influence of alcohol contrary to s. 4(3)(a) and (5) of the Road Traffic Act 2010.

  3. Driving without a driving licence contrary to s. 38 of the Road Traffic Act 1961 (as substituted by s. 12 of the Road Traffic Act 2006) and s. 102 of the Road Traffic Act 1961 (as substituted by s. 12(a) of the Road Traffic Act 2006).

  4. Driving without insurance contrary to s. 56(1) and (3) of the Road Traffic Act 1961 as amended by s. 18 of the Road Traffic Act 2006.

  5. Failure to produce a driving licence contrary to s. 40(4)(a)(iii) of the Road Traffic Act 1961 as amended.

  6. Failure to produce a certificate of insurance contrary to s. 69(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1961 as amended.

    7. Sentences of six months were imposed in respect of a number of counts of dangerous driving, four of which were directed to be served consecutively, so that the overall prison term amounted to two years.

    In addition, Mr Tobin was disqualified from driving for his lifetime.

    Court of Appeal

    On appeal, Mr Tobin contended that:

    1. the sentencing judge erred in imposing the maximum sentence and explicitly declining to give credit for the appellant’s efforts to rehabilitate,

    2. the learned sentencing judge erred in his failure to structure the sentence in a way to incentivise the appellant to make further efforts to rehabilitate,

    3. the imposition of consecutive sentences in the circumstances was contrary to principle and ignored the statutory limit, and

    4. the imposition of a lifetime disqualification from driving was disproportionate and contrary to law.

      5. The Court heard that Mr Tobin had a personal history of abusing alcohol and drugs and was receiving therapy in relation thereto at the time of the commission of these offences. The Court was thus asked to consider a report from a Project Worker with ADAPT which outlined the steps taken by Mr Tobin to address his issues, stating that Mr Tobin was “doing all in his power to improve his lifestyle and his future prospects”.

      Consecutive sentences

      Considering the issue of consecutive sentences, counsel for Mr Tobin relied on DPP v. TB 3 I.R. 294, in which it was stated that it would be inappropriate “to impose a series of prison sentences in respect of a number of motoring offences to run consecutively which would have the consequence of subjecting the offender to a disproportionately severe sentence and one that might be more severe than the court would impose for manslaughter or rape”.

      Delivering the judgment of the three-judge Court, Mr Justice Mahon was satisfied that the nature of Mr Tobin’s offences coupled with his lengthy number of previous convictions, made the imposition of custodial sentences absolutely inevitable.

      Furthermore, the imposition of the maximum sentence in each case was well within the discretion available to the sentencing judge, and was not an error of principle.

      According to Justice Mahon, there were several factors evident justifying the imposition of consecutive sentences:

      1. the exceptionally dangerous driving involved,

      2. the prolonged nature of the dangerous driving and the fact that it continued and extended into a large area of the city, including residential suburbs,

      3. the low maximum sentence for each offence,

      4. the numerous and relevant previous convictions and driving disqualifications.

        5. Thus the Court was satisfied that the imposition of consecutive sentences was not an error of principle.

        Lifetime ban

        Mr Justice Mahon stated that the Court was “very much of the view that a lengthy driving ban is appropriate”, but that a life-long ban was unnecessarily severe.

        To this extent, the Court found that the sentencing judge was in error, and replaced the lifelong driving disqualification with a forty year driving disqualification, dating from 10th February 2016.

        • by Seosamh Gráinséir for Irish Legal News

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