A “ruthless” gunman who emptied a revolver at a brother of Gerard Hutch before later “running amok” in Dublin city centre as he twice tried to murder another man has been jailed by the Special Criminal Court for 22 years.
Sentencing Michael Carroll at the non-jury court on Monday, presiding judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt said the defendant was “clearly a ruthless and dangerous” gunman who has a “callous contempt for public safety”.
Carroll, who the court previously heard had wanted to ingratiate himself with the Kinahan cartel, has 58 previous convictions, which include six robbery and three theft offences as well as convictions for drug offences and possession of knives.
Carroll (43), of Bride St, Dublin 8 was originally charged with the attempted murder of John Hutch, who was then 63 years old but has since died, in a shooting at his Drumalee Avenue home, on the North Circular Road, Dublin 7, on September 2nd, 2016.
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Last March, Carroll – who was extradited from the UK – instead pleaded guilty to a new charge of having in his possession or control a firearm with intent to endanger life, contrary to Section 15 of the Firearms Act, at Drumalee Avenue on the same date. Carroll was also charged with twice attempting to murder Edward Staunton on the night of March 26th, 2017 at James Joyce Street, Dublin 1 and again at Peadar Kearney House, Railway St, Dublin 1.
In that attack, Carroll drove a car at his victim – knocking him into the air – before tracking Mr Staunton down and shooting him twice as he lay on the ground awaiting help. Carroll pleaded guilty last March to one of those two charges; the attempted murder of Mr Staunton at Railway Street on March 26th, 2017.
Before delivering the sentence on Monday, Mr Justice Hunt said Carroll had exited a car at Mr Hutch’s residence armed with a pistol and a revolver and discharged several shots at the victim as he entered his back garden. There were seven rounds of ammunition in the pistol and six in the revolver, he said. The judge said Carroll had aimed the guns over a gate and wall before firing indiscriminately as Mr Hutch ran through his back garden where his daughter was also sitting at the time.
CCTV footage
Mr Justice Hunt said the prosecution had read a victim impact statement from the victim’s wife, Mrs Vera Hutch, where she had illustrated the profound effects this event had on her family. “She thought her husband or daughter had been shot when she saw Carroll shooting over the wall, she is on medication and described herself as paranoid, she concluded by saying her life has never been the same,” he added. The judge said this event could only be understood in terms of gravity by looking at the CCTV footage.
Referring to the offence of attempted murder on then 25-year-old Mr Staunton, Mr Justice Hunt said Carroll had discharged four shots hitting his victim twice in the lower body, where others present had run away in fear. He said Staunton was admitted to intensive care and was later treated as an outpatient until he recovered from his injuries.
Passing sentence, Mr Justice Hunt said the firearms offence on Mr Hutch carried a presumptive minimum sentence of 10 years imprisonment and that it was difficult to see how the court could start from lower than that.
In terms of the attempted murder of Mr Staunton, the judge said the evidence was disturbing and shocking and that Carroll had “run amok” in a densely populated area without caring for who else was in the vicinity and might come to harm. “The intent was clearly formed with a deliberate plan to murder a deliberate target. The CCTV footage of this event was chilling and the damage caused was extensive,” he said.
Referring to the firearms offence on Mr Hutch, Mr Justice Hunt set the headline sentence at 17 years imprisonment and reduced it to 12 years and nine months in prison having considered mitigation.
The judge said that six months after the attack on Mr Hutch, Carroll had made two deliberate attempts to murder Mr Staunton and that this offence had been aggravated by the recent commission of the serious firearm offence. He said the CCTV footage shown to the court in the case of Mr Staunton could only be described as “terrifying”.
Having considered mitigation, the judge sentenced Carroll to 20 years imprisonment for the attempted murder offence.
The judge noted that the next consideration was whether the offences were to be consecutive and said the court believed they must be so. He said the aggregate sentence of 32 years and 9 months was “somewhat disproportionate to the wrongdoing in this case” and reduced the sentence to 24 years and six months in prison.
Mr Justice Hunt, sitting with Judge Elma Sheahan and Judge Alan Mitchell, finally sentenced Carroll to 10 years and six months for the firearms offence and 14 years imprisonment consecutive to that for the attempted murder offence. However, the judge said that the court would suspend the last two years and six months of the adjusted 14 year sentence in order to incentivise the defendant’s rehabilitation resulting in a final sentence of 22 years for the two offences.
The presiding judge told Sean Gillane SC, prosecuting, it was essential if the case went to the Court of Appeal that the CCTV footage was viewed “to get a true flavour” of the case.
The court previously heard that sworn information was provided to gardaí that Carroll wanted to ingratiate himself with the Kinahan/Byrne faction, where he was believed to be under pressure to repay a significant drug debt arising from his own addictions.
Last July at Carroll’s sentence hearing, the three-judge court was told that the defendant would need “intense help” as he tries to rehabilitate and deal with his drug problems. Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC, for Carroll, asked the Special Criminal Court to consider suspending part of the sentence for Carroll, who counsel said can have a positive future with the right help.