Two couples jailed for falsely imprisoning a businessman, whom they wrongly believed was a "con man", have been released on bail pending their appeal.
In granting bail yesterday to all four, Mr Justice Brian McCracken, presiding over the Court of Criminal Appeal, said this was an "unusual case". The couples' lawyers had alleged that the sentence handed down in their case last Monday by Circuit Court Judge Donagh McDonagh involved an error in principle.
"This is a matter that causes the court some concern," Mr Justice McCracken said.
Arising from an incident in March 2004, Judge McDonagh had jailed Jason Ward (34), Clanmolier Court, Portarlington, and Matthew Kearns (20), Palmerstown Woods, Clondalkin, for two years, and Celia Jones (19), Foxdene Gardens, and Denise Collins (21), Neilstown Gardens, both Clondalkin, for one year.
All four had pleaded guilty to falsely imprisoning a glazier on March 9th, 2004, at Foxdene Gardens.
The court was told Collins had paid a €300 deposit for PVC replacement windows but then decided not to get the work done. When the businessman involved had called to Jones's house on another job, he was held hostage for several hours by five people, including the four accused. He was threatened with a knife and made to sign over his car until the €300 was repaid.
The court was told the defendants, as a consequence of local media reports, had believed their victim was a con man. It was accepted by the court that the incident arose out of a "genuine but mistaken belief" that the victim was a con man.
When the matter came before the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday via bail applications for the four pending their appeals, Mr Justice McCracken said the trial judge, when considering sentence, "clearly had regard to matters not adduced in evidence" in attributing the presence of a knife to Ward. This was not given in evidence.
Mr Justice McCracken said the trial judge also failed to specify what mitigating matters were taken into consideration before sentencing. "The trial judge, if he's taking mitigating factors into account, should specify what they are," he said.
These were "errors in principle" and there "must be good prospect" for appeal, the judge added. Priority should be given to the appeal.
Earlier, Seán Guerin, counsel for Ward, told the court all four had effectively been under the wrong impression that the business man was a crook and had taken deposits previously. All four accepted they were "entirely in the wrong".
No evidence was given regarding the identity of a person who produced a knife during the false imprisonment, counsel said. "The trial judge, when passing sentence, made an effort to distinguish between the four accused. He described my client as 'knife-wielding' Jason Ward. There is no basis for that assessment." This was "an error of most grievous form".
Ronan Kennedy, for Collins, said his client had no previous convictions and had two children aged three and 12 months. The sentence of one-year imprisonment was disproportionate and the trial judge had not referred to the mitigating factors produced on her behalf.