A man involved in a spate of burglaries and in an incident in which his elderly neighbours were tied up and robbed of their life savings was described by a judge yesterday as a "traitor to his own community".
The three-judge Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed Aidan Fallon's appeal against the severity of a nine-year sentence imposed for four counts of burglary relating to incidents in Co Roscommon in March and April 1997 and for the burglary and imprisonment of an elderly brother and sister in 1996.
Fallon (28), of St John's, Lecarrow, Co Roscommon, was jailed for a total of two years on the burglary counts and a further seven years relating to the incident at the Monksland, Co Roscommon, home of Mr Michael McDermott (81), and his sister Annie in October 1996.
The court heard the elderly pair were tied up during the robbery, which involved Fallon and others, and that their life savings of £20,000 was taken.
Appealing against sentence yesterday, Mr Martin Giblin, for Fallon, said one of the principles of sentencing was that the guilty should not be deprived of the hope of rehabilitation. The nine-year sentence was too lengthy and offered no such hope.
Opposing the appeal, Mr Patrick Gageby SC, for the DPP, said some of the offences were committed while Fallon was on bail. If there was any error in the seven-year sentence imposed regarding the McDermott incident, it was that the sentence was too lenient because Fallon had previously been involved in raids on two other elderly people's homes and those old people were subject to unspeakable acts.
Rejecting the appeal, Mr Justice Lynch, sitting with Mr Justice Carney and Mr Justice Geoghegan, said the trial judge was entitled to have regard to what he learned of previous offences involving Fallon. These were a burglary in 1995 when a 69-year-old woman was robbed and tied up and a similar incident that same year relating to an 80-year-old man.
He said the offences regarding the robbery and false imprisonment of Michael and Annie McDermott were outrageous.
The court could only take the view that the seven-year sentence imposed for the incident relating to the McDermotts was a "very moderate one indeed". The total two-year sentence imposed on the burglary charges was mandatory. The court could see no merit in Fallon's application and would refuse it.
