A Co Dublin man jailed for two years for killing a donkey by driving an iron bar through its eye and skull was freed on his own bail of £200 by the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday.
Allen Carmichael (22), an apprentice electrician of Castleview, Streamstown, Malahide, had pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Court to maliciously killing the 32-year-old female donkey at Malahide on May 30th last year.
Judge Kieran O'Connor described the offence as "a brutal, savage and senseless assault on a dumb animal brought on by a combination of drink and drugs".
Mr Justice Barron in the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday said it was a "really horrific crime".
The case being made on Carmichael's behalf was that he would serve a sentence which would affect his whole life, the judge said. He had strong character references which supported the proposition that there was some possibility the court would, on hearing his appeal against the severity of his sentence, decide there should not be a custodial sentence.
On that basis and because of the serious effects on Carmichael if the sentence were not commuted, the court felt it would allow bail.
However, the decision to grant bail was not open to the inference that the court would commute the sentence when the appeal came for hearing, the judge stressed. He ordered that the appeal be listed for hearing as soon as possible.
Mr Fergal Foley for Carmichael said that when the transcript of the circuit Court hearing became available, the Court of Criminal Appeal would see that late at night he went into a field where the donkey was. He was the worse for wear on a mixture of drink and drugs and he and two companions attempted to get on the donkey, which moved away.
Carmichael picked up an iron post and beat the donkey. According to his statement, he believed it was a stick. The donkey fell to the ground with Carmichael beating it, and eventually he shoved the iron fence post into the donkey's eye. It would appear this was after the donkey was dead.
Carmichael made off and his two friends gave themselves up. Almost immediately after Carmichael's father was informed by the gardai, he brought his son to the Garda station. Carmichael made a full confession, apologised and made full compensation.
There was evidence that the co-owner of the donkey, Mr Gilbert Kirker, had said to the gardai that he did not want the incident to blight Carmichael's life.
Mr Foley said that in all the circumstances, the sentence was excessive, given the weighty number of mitigating circumstances about Carmichael's life and his behaviour since the incident.
Ms Isobel Kennedy, for the DPP, opposed bail. She said it was a serious offence. The maximum sentence was 10 years, and two years was not excessive.