The Court of Criminal Appeal has rejected arguments that a five year sentence imposed on a man for having two sawn-off shotguns outside a house in Co Clare was unduly severe.
Richard Kelly (21), whose address was given as Watergrasshill, Cork, had pleaded guilty with another man at Ennis Circuit Court last year to the firearms charges.
Kelly was jailed for five years' for having the shotgun at his father Anthony Kelly's residence at Cragg House, Kilrush, in April 2007.
Kelly appealed against the severity of the sentence on grounds including not all mitigating factors had been taken into account. The DPP opposed the appeal.
Today, the three judge CCA, with Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan presiding and sitting with Mr Justice Eamon De Valera and Mr Justice Bryan McMahon, dismissed Kelly's appeal after finding there were "no exceptional or special circumstances" to indicate why the minimum five year sentence for this offence should not have been imposed.
The CCA said there was no error in principle with the five year term for this "straightforward" but "serious offence".
Mr Justice Finnegan said it was "difficult to see any lawful use" for the weapons as "both the stocks and barrels of the guns had been reduced."
The judge said the CCA accepted Kelly admitted the offence at a relatively early stage and cooperated with the Garda. It also noted Kelly had 19 previous convictions, all for minor offences.
The court heard the gardaíhad the house in question under surveillance and had produced a video recording of the two men removing the guns from another part of the property to some shrubbery outside the house.
The video also showed the two wiping the guns clean while the weapons were in their possession. Detectives arrested the suspects when they went to collect the shotguns. The court also heard that the guns had been stolen and then modified.