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Irish Court of Criminal Appeal
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Irish Court of Criminal Appeal >> Whitehead, D.P.P. (People) v. [2008] IECCA 123 (20 October 2008)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/ie/cases/IECCA/2008/2008_IECCA_123.html
Cite as: [2008] IECCA 123
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Kearns J.
Budd J.
Clark J.
[CCA. No. 94/08]
BETWEEN
THE PEOPLE AT THE SUIT OF THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS
RESPONDENT
AND
SASHA LEE WHITEHEAD
APPLICANT
JUDGMENT of the Court (ex tempore) delivered the 20th day of October, 2008 by Kearns J.
The applicant in this case received a prison sentence of seven years with one year suspended on 7th March, 2008 in Dublin Circuit Court for the attempted importation of cannabis worth about 90,000 euro at Dublin Airport on the 11th June, 2007. This sentence was backdated to the date of her arrest, i.e., 11th June, 2007
This is a case where the applicant is in the unfortunate position of being a person characterised in the media as a 'mule', a person who is a mere carrier of a consignment on behalf of others. Usually such a person is for one reason or another in a vulnerable position whereby the person may be cajoled or threatened by unscrupulous drug dealers to carry drugs into this country in those circumstances, either under threat or under promise of financial inducement. It was the latter circumstance in this case in that Ms. Whitehead was to get €2,000 for taking this cannabis through Dublin Airport in a suitcase. She had been identified as a person who might be willing to undertake this mission because her known dire financial circumstances were known to those who requested her to carry out this mission.
The appellant has three children who are totally dependent on her and a mother who has been extremely ill who she helps to mind. It would appear that her mother has severe breathing difficulties and requires constant oxygen to stay alive. Adding to all of this was the fact that the appellant had been unhappily married with a history of violence in the background. The documentation that was offered to the Court suggests that the appellant was having great difficulty in paying her bills and providing for her children at the time when this offence occurred.
That is not in any way to condone or excuse what happened but cases with these sort of facts create very real difficulties for sentencing
courts because, as has been stated time and time again, the Court not only has to look at the gravity of the crime but also must look at the circumstances of the offender and both must be taken into account to arrive at a sentence that is just and equitable and has regard to the requirements of both the statute and public policy and ultimately the requirements of justice also.
This woman who was born on the 30th January, 1974 was thirty-three years of age at the time of this offence and she is now thirty-four. She was of an age to appreciate the implications of what she was doing. Nonetheless the Court is disposed to take a view of this case which recognises all of the background circumstances which are of a significant mitigating nature. There was an immediate plea of guilty. Material assistance was rendered. The appellant is a foreign national whose imprisonment here separates her from her young family. Her family and children can not possibly see her while she remains in custody given that they live in impoverished circumstances in South Africa. This is an added penalty of significant dimensions on the appellant in this case. The Court feels that these factors were not adverted to adequately at the sentencing stage in the court below. Further, the Court sees no role whatsoever for a partially suspended sentence where the person who is receiving the sentence is a foreign national with no connection whatsoever to this country who may well decide immediately following the expiration of the
custodial sentence to leave Ireland and return to South Africa or to some other jurisdiction.
In all the circumstances the Court is going to reduce the sentence to the period of three years and six months from 11th June, 2007.