R v Sloan

COURT OF APPEAL

MACDERMOTT AND MCCOLLUM LJJ9 JANUARY, 13 FEBRUARY 1998



Road traffic – Dangerous driving – Causing death or grievous bodily harm by

dangerous driving – Sentence – Principles of sentencing – Circumstances aggravating

offence – Circumstances mitigating offence – Length of appropriate custodial sentence –

Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, SI 1995/2994, art 9.

On 24 August 1996, S crashed a vehicle which he had been driving at speeds

between 85 and 90 mph on a stretch of road subject to a 30 mph limit. He had

consumed alcohol and had continued to drive at excessive speeds despite requests

from his passengers to slow down. S's car struck four other cars in the collision in

which his passengers sustained injuries, particularly S's best friend who sustained

severe injuries. A police officer who attended the scene detected a strong smell of

intoxicating liquor on S's breath. S, however, refused to provide a specimen. At the

time of the accident S was under a suspended sentence of three months'

imprisonment which had been imposed on 12 October 1995 for reckless driving and

was disqualified from driving for a period of two years for the same offence. S had

an extremely bad driving record which included five convictions for careless driving

since 1991, and a further conviction of reckless driving on 26 March 1992 for which

he had been disqualified for one year. S was charged with, inter alia, dangerous

driving causing grievous bodily harm contrary to art 9 of the Road Traffic (Northern

Ireland) Order 1995. On his arraignment on 6 June 1997 S pleaded not guilty to all

charges. He was rearraigned on 19 September 1997 and pleaded guilty to all charges.

The recorder adjourned sentence so that a probation report could be prepared. The

report referred to a head injury sustained by S in 1989, that S had limited intellectual

powers, some personality difficulties and would probably require considerable

supervision for the rest of his life. On 3 October 1997, the recorder imposed a

sentence of three years and nine months' imprisonment in respect of the charge of

dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm together with other concurrent

sentences for related road traffic offences arising out of the same incident.

Additionally, the recorder directed that the suspended sentence of three months'

imprisonment for reckless driving to which S had been subject at the time of the

accident should be put into operation and served consecutively to the sentence of

three years and nine months. S appealed against sentence contending that the

sentence of three years and nine months was manifestly excessive and that in

imposing such a sentence the recorder had overemphasised the aggravating features

of the case and had failed to give adequate weight to the mitigating factors in the

case such as the fact that S had pleaded guilty, the fact that the victim was S's best

friend and S suffered genuine remorse for what had occurred, and S's personality

and state of health as recorded in the probation report. S also asserted that he had

been the victim of the devious intent of another individual who have given him two

[1998] NI 58 at 59tablets which were not headache tablets and therefore, he was not

fully to blame for what had happened.

Held – In determining the length of sentence to be served for an offence of causing

grievous bodily harm by dangerous driving contrary to art 9, the task of the court on

appeal, as it was of the recorder imposing sentence, was to seek to balance the

aggravating and mitigating features of the offence. A guilty plea had always been a

relevant mitigating factor but the earlier a guilty plea was entered the greater would

be the discount. Credit had been given by the recorder for S's plea of guilty but not

as much as would have been received had S pleaded guilty on arraignment.

Moreover, friendship with the victim was also a relevant mitigating facto