Judge attacks ‘skewed’ sentencing laws

A JUDGE has criticised the “skewed” sentencing legislation in Ireland where he could only give six months to man for a 29th drink-driving offence while a woman got 10 months for stealing groceries.

At Mullingar District Court, Judge Seamus Hughes said the legislature must pay attention to comments made by the judiciary. He said he is calling on legislators to “look carefully at comments the courts make” as he described the range of sentencing available to judges as “totally skewed”.

He was comparing the maximum 12-month sentence for theft with the maximum six-month sentence for drink driving and other road traffic offences.