A man who twice tried to have his estranged wife killed has lost his bid to have his seven-year sentence reduced.
Patrick Rafferty (40), a haulier, Ballina, Co Tipperary, who offered an undercover garda €15,000 to kill his wife by faking a road accident, had appealed the severity of the sentence imposed on him earlier this year.
Yesterday, the three-judge Court of Criminal Appeal, with Ms Justice Fidelma Macken presiding and sitting with Mr Justice Roderick Murphy and Mr Justice Eamon de Valera, rejected Rafferty's appeal.
The seven-year sentence was imposed by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court last January. Rafferty had pleaded guilty to soliciting Det Gda Patrick Crowley to murder his wife, Mary Rafferty, on February 7th, 2005, at an area between the Five Alley public house, Nenagh, Co Tipperary, and Daly's Cross, Castleconnell, Co Limerick.
Earlier yesterday, moving the appeal against sentence, Michael O'Higgins SC argued Mr Justice Carney had erred by not taking all the mitigating factors fully into consideration, such as Rafferty's previous good character, his plea of guilty and his genuine remorse. Counsel argued the seven-year sentence was excessive in the circumstances.
Opposing the appeal, Rosario Boyle SC for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said no error in principle had occurred and the sentence should stand. Rafferty had been caught red-handed and had made more than one attempt to kill his wife, she said.
Dismissing the appeal, Ms Justice Macken said the sentence imposed did not appear out of order or unduly severe and that it would be inappropriate to interfere with it.
Ms Justice Macken said that, before Rafferty sought to hire somebody to kill his wife, she had taken money out of a joint bank account and had brought certain matters to the attention of the Revenue Commissioners. That resulted in a judgment of €20,000 being registered against him.
The court also noted that the father of three offered the garda €15,000 and indicated he could probably come up with another €5,000. Rafferty suggested to the undercover garda that he stage a road traffic incident in which he would "run her car off the road".
Rafferty told the garda that, if this was not successful, he was to "do her neck in" at which point he made a choking gesture. This was not the first time Rafferty had attempted to solicit somebody to kill his wife, the judge said.
Five months earlier, he paid €8,000 to a well-known criminal who "saw him as a soft touch" and ripped him off, the judge said. The court heard Rafferty admitted this attempt during a series of interviews after his arrest on February 7th, 2005.