Mandatory life terms for murder upheld

CLAIMS by convicted murderers Peter Whelan and Paul Lynch that the mandatory life term for murder breaches their rights under the Constitution and European Convention on Human Rights were unanimously dismissed by the Supreme Court yesterday.

Murder is the “ultimate crime against society as a whole” and the state is entitled to impose a punishment at “the highest level which the law permits,” the Chief Justice, Mr Justice John Murray, said.

As a person convicted of murder had to be proven to have intended to kill or cause serious injury, it could be “properly differentiated from all other crimes,” including manslaughter.

The sole function of a court, once a person is convicted of murder, was to impose the mandatory life sentence and the relevant law did not permit a recommendation by a judge as to the length of imprisonment, he also found.

The Chief Justice was delivering the five-judge court’s unanimous judgment dismissing the claims by Whelan and Lynch.

Whelan was jailed for life after pleading guilty in 2002 to the murder of 20-year-old Nicola Sweeney, at her home in Rochestown, Cork, in April, 2002. He received a 15-year sentence for the attempted murder the same day of Sinead O’Leary, which runs consecutively to the life term.

Lynch is serving a life term after pleading guilty in 1997 to murdering Donegal pensioner William Campbell in September, 1995.

AdVIC, the advocacy group for the families of victims of homicide, welcomed the decision. Its joint secretary, Joan Deane, said the judges’ comments reflect the fact that murder is an unnatural crime and the length of sentencing should underline this.

“Steps must now be taken to ensure consistency in the criminal justice system.

“For example, Michael Byrne was recently jailed for 18 years for drug trafficking, but on the same day, Clive Butcher was only sentenced to six and a half years in a separate case for manslaughter. We believe murder graded by degree should be introduced in place of manslaughter for death by violence. Sentencing guidelines should be established for judges to ensure that a fair and balanced sentence is handed down in cases of first, second, third and fourth degree murder.”

Lynch and Whelan had both appealed a High Court decision dismissing their arguments that Section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1990, that provides for the mandatory life term, is repugnant to the Constitution or incompatible with provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights.