Mulhall sister loses appeal against 15-year sentence
The Court of Criminal Appeal found the trial judge in the case, Paul Carney, had imposed the appropriate level of sentence given the nature of the offence. The court also refused to suspend part of the sentence because Mulhall had not engaged with counselling and rehabilitation services at the time of her sentencing although she had expressed remorse.
Mulhall, aged 33, was found guilty in October 2006 of manslaughter of her mother’s boyfriend, Farah Swaleh Noor, on March 20, 2005. Her sister Charlotte, aged 27, recently lost an appeal against a life sentence for the murder of Mr Noor who was killed during a row, following a night of drinking and drug taking, in a north city flat. Mr Noor’s body was cut up and dumped in a canal while his head was buried in a field in Tallaght and never found. The sisters’ mother, Kathleen, 52, is awaiting trial on charges in connection with the death.
In February last the court adjourned its decision on her appeal against severity of sentence to allow it to be supplied with probation and psychiatric reports on Linda Mulhall, one prepared by probation officer Scarlett Taylor and the other by consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Helen O’Neill of the Central Mental Hospital.
Dr O’Neill’s report had been prepared just before the sentencing hearing in December 2006 while Ms Taylor’s report was prepared in March last based on detailed notes of a predecessor who carried out a series of interviews with Ms Mulhall, the court heard yesterday.
Mulhall’s lawyer, Brendan Grehan SC, said the psychiatric report showed she felt great remorse for what she had done to such a degree she had difficulty touching her own children “because of the thoughts of what she had done”.
Mr Grehan said the report showed she had a very brutalised existence from a very early age and that she had taken to drink and self-harm as a means of dealing with it. The probation report showed she was tearful and distressed in her remorse and she had great difficulty understanding what she had done because she had never done anything like this before.
The report also said that while she could not offer any explanation for what she did, she had never tried to deflect blame for it.
Giving judgment yesterday, Ms Justice Fidelma Macken, sitting with Mr Justice Roderick Murphy and Mr Justice Eamon de Valera, said having considered those reports, the court was satisfied that the 15-year sentence should stand.
The judge said the court had also considered the submissions made by Mulhall’s lawyer in relation to her background, her brutalised upbringing and relationships. The court noted that the psychiatrist recommended Mulhall required a structured programme of counselling and rehabilitation to deal with the risk of reoffending, in particular in relation to her domestic situation.
