The Court of Appeal has set a date in November to resentence two offenders who were teenagers when they were convicted of separate murders, following a recent landmark Supreme Court ruling that trial courts do not have the power to review sentences in such cases.
Both cases involved appellants who are now adults but who were convicted of murder when they were under the age of 18.
Mr Justice John Edwards set a date of November 18th for the court to hear submissions and proceed to resentence the teenager convicted of murdering Mongolian national Urantsetseg Tserendorj in January 2021. The court will also resentence the youth who pleaded guilty to murdering Cork student Cameron Blair in January 2020 on that date.
Each of the young men were separately sentenced to life in detention with review after 13 years.
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However, in a landmark ruling delivered on March 13th this year, the Supreme Court found that a sentencing court does not have jurisdiction to review terms of detention imposed on child offenders.
The judgement related to an appeal taken by the teenager convicted of the murder of mother-of-two Urantsetseg Tserendjorj, who died after she was stabbed in the neck in Dublin in January 2021. The youth was 14 at the time.
In a judgement delivered by Ms Justice Iseult O’Malley, the Supreme Court also found that life sentences for a child convicted of murder should only be imposed in exceptional cases where the evidence showed the intentions and actions of the child were akin to those of an adult.
The court held that a court may impose a part-suspended sentence on a child convicted of murder and serious crimes.
Ms Justice O’Malley allowed the appeal against sentence and directed that the case be remitted to the Court of Appeal for the imposition of a sentence in accordance with the principles set out in the judgement.
A second, separate case involved a man who was convicted and sentenced for the murder of Cork student Cameron Blair. He was 17 at the time.
He had brought an unsuccessful appeal against the severity of his sentence to the Court of Appeal. As he had turned 18 after his conviction, the three-judge court found he was no longer entitled to anonymity.
The man successfully appealed this decision, with the Supreme Court holding that protections prohibiting him from being named should continue to apply throughout and beyond the conclusion of proceedings relating to the case.
Both cases were mentioned briefly at the Court of Appeal on Friday when Antonia Boyle BL, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, confirmed to Mr Justice Edwards, presiding, they were coming back before the court for resentencing following the recent Supreme Court rulings.
She told the court further submissions will be required on the basis of the Supreme Court decision.
Mr Justice Edwards scheduled a hearing date of November 18th.
