The Court of Criminal Appeal today reduced from eight years to six the sentence imposed on Dublin mother-of-two Kelly Noble for the fatal stabbing of another young mother outside a supermarket in Co Meath.
Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns said the Court was satisfied the trial judge had erred in principle in one respect of the sentence - by holding the manslaughter of Emma McLoughlin was at the higher end of the scale of sentences imposed on those guilty of that crime and required a 10-year sentence.
Noble (22), Seaview, Laytown, Co Meath, was found not guilty in March 2007 of the murder of Emma McLoughlin (19), whom she stabbed once in the chest outside a supermarket in Laytown, on June 2nd, 2006.
She was convicted of manslaughter, which she had admitted at the outset of the trial. Mr Justice Barry White sentenced her to 10 years in prison, with the final two years suspended.
The Court believed this particular offence, in all its circumstances, was somewhere in the middle of the scale, he said. He also noted Noble was remorseful for what she had done.
Ruling on her appeal of the severity of the sentence Mr Justice Kearns, sitting with Mr Justice Daniel Herbert and Mr Justice John Hedigan, said the killing was a "dreadful tragedy". A young mother had died and the Court expressed its deep sympathy to Ms McLoughlin's family and to her two children who had been deprived of their mother's love for the rest of their lives, he said.
The trial judge, Mr Justice Barry White, had correctly treated Ms Noble as having pleaded guilty to manslaughter and also took into account a wealth of material in relation to her, including probation report and psychiatric reports, Mr Justice Kearns said.
There was no doubt there was "bad blood" between Noble and Ms McLoughlin and that, earlier on the day of the killing, Noble had been verbally abused and physicality assaulted by Ms McLoughlin during a five-minute incident in the supermarket.
Ms McLoughlin was put out of the store and the matter could have ended there but for two unfortunate circumstances - that Ms McLoughlin did not go home and that Noble rang a friend and asked her to bring a knife to the shop.
Tragically, the judge said, the knife was brought to Noble. Even then, what happened next might have been avoided because Noble had turned away outside the store but Ms McLoughlin came after her and there was a further altercation during which the stab wound was inflicted.
These circumstances brought the offence into the middle range of manslaughter, the Court believed.
Mr Justice Kearns also referred to various reports on Noble, which outlined her very difficult home circumstances, the fact her mother was serving a sentence for the killing of her father and a significant history of violence between her parents to which she was exposed during her earlier years.
The reports also referred to a four-year history of heroin abuse but showed, the judge noted, that Noble had "meaningfully engaged" and made serious efforts to grapple with those difficulties and to turn her life around.
This was hardly surprising as she had two young children in foster care. The trial judge also had regard to the possibility of rehabiliation and was required to do so as this was a young woman with no previous convictions and deemed very unlikely to reoffend.
He also noted reports from the prison authorities to the effect Noble was studying fabric and fashion in prison and was very helpful to other inmates.
Mr Michael O'Higgins SC, for Noble, had presented the appeal earlier while Mr Anthony Sammon SC for the DPP argued that the trial judge was entitled to impose the sentence.
