High Court quashes prison sentences for boy (17) who stole electrical goods worth €400

The High Court has agreed to quash suspended prison sentences imposed on a 17-year-old boy who admitted stealing electrical goods worth approximately €400 from a shop.

The Director of Public Prosecutions sought to have the sentences quashed on the grounds that they were not lawful. The matter has been sent back to the District so that new sentences can be imposed.

The sentences were imposed on the teen, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, after he pleaded guilty to two counts of theft of items, from a supermarket in a town in the west of Ireland, before a sitting of the local District Court.

The judge hearing the case imposed four month period of imprisonment for each of the two counts, on the boy. The judge suspended the sentences, which were to run consecutively to each other, for a period of two years.

Not lawful

In High Court judicial review proceedings, the DPP, represented by Niall Nolan Bl, said that the sentences were not lawful on grounds including that the teen is defined under the 2001 Children’s Act is classified as being a minor or a child.

While a minor can be sentenced to a period of detention, a minor cannot be sentenced to a period of imprisonment, counsel said. The boy in this case who does not turn 18 years of age until next year.

In addition, counsel said that arising out of a 2017 decision of the Court of Appeal suspended sentences cannot be lawfully imposed on minors.

In all the circumstances counsel said that the DPP, after being made aware of issues concerning the sentences imposed on the teen, sought orders to have both sentences quashed.

The matter came before Mr Justice Anthony Barr, who was told that the matter was not being contested. The teen was the respondent to the DPP’s action.

The judge agreed to make orders quashing the sentences, and remitted the matter back to the District Court so that new sentences can be imposed.