A man jailed for 15 years for the manslaughter of a garda who died in a fire at Tallaght Garda station has lost his appeal against severity of sentence.
The three-judge Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) yesterday held there was no error in principle to impose a 15-year term on Daniel O'Toole for the manslaughter of Sgt Andrew Callanan (37), a father of three, at Tallaght station on July 21st, 1999.
The court also upheld a 15-year sentence imposed on O'Toole (40), Cashel Avenue, Crumlin, Dublin, for arson. Both sentences are to run concurrently.
The sentence relating to the arson charge was imposed in July 2001, while the term for manslaughter was imposed the following November. However, the Central Criminal Court directed that the 15 years for manslaughter should date from the date of imposition of the term for arson.
The trial judge had agreed with defence counsel that the evidence showed only an intent by O'Toole to commit suicide.
The judge directed the jury to return verdicts of guilty of manslaughter, not guilty to the murder of a garda acting in the course of duty, and not guilty to a charge of simple murder.
In the CCA yesterday, Mr George Birmingham SC, for O'Toole, argued the sentence imposed for manslaughter was extraordinarily lengthy. He said the fact sentencing had been dealt with in two phases had presented certain difficulties. Had the two counts been dealt with on the same day, it was probable that a much lesser sentence would have been imposed on the criminal damage charge, he argued.
What had happened was a terrible tragedy by any stretch of the imagination, he said. But there had been no intention by O'Toole to kill anyone other than himself.
Refusing the appeal, the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Keane, sitting with Mr Justice Kelly and Mr Justice O'Sullivan, said while the sentence undoubtedly was at the higher end of the range, it did not reflect any error in principle in the manner in which the trial judge approached the matter.