Cameron Blair: Sentence imposed on man who brandished knife before fatal stabbing is ‘too lenient’, Court of Appeal told

The two-year sentence imposed on a teenager who brandished a knife outside a house party in Cork City where 20-year-old college student Cameron Blair was stabbed to death was unduly lenient, the Court of Appeal has been told.

Scott O’Connor, now 20, had pleaded guilty in January last year at the Central Criminal Court to committing violent disorder at Bandon Rd in Cork on January 16, 2020.

At the Central Criminal Court in January 2021, O’Connor, of Churchfield Square, Cork City also pleaded guilty to producing an article capable of inflicting serious injury in the course of a dispute, to wit a knife, in a manner likely unlawfully to intimidate another person on the same occasion.

He was jailed for two years after Mr Justice David Keane imposed a five-year term with the final three years suspended.

The Director of Public Prosecutions later appealed the sentence on the grounds that the three-year suspension was “unduly lenient”.

Anne Rowland, for the DPP, told the Court of Appeal the sentence imposed represented a “substantial departure from the norm, given the unusual and grave circumstances surrounding the case”.

The Central Criminal Court previously heard that the offences occurred outside a terraced house which was being rented by a number of students.

The students had decided to have a pre-drinks party as part of UCC Freshers' Week and there were approximately 50 people "coming and going" to the party at various times between 6.30pm and 9.30pm that evening.

A drunk homeless man, who had met up with three youths a short distance down the road, started banging at the door of the house around 7pm. The homeless man was asked to leave after banging several times on the door but as the latch of the door was damaged, it could be easily pushed in. One man who was renting the property told the drunk man to leave and he fell onto the ground.

Learn more Three teenagers — O'Connor, a 17-year-old boy, and a 14-year-old boy — had remonstrated with the student who had refused admittance to the drunk man. The court heard that Mr Blair, in an effort to defuse the situation, had invited the three youths into the party.

Ms Rowland said the respondent had armed himself with an extremely large knife which he had removed from the kitchen and was later seen “brandishing it, holding it high above his head” on the doorstep of house moments before Mr Blair was fatally stabbed.

During Ms Rowland’s submission, CCTV footage was played to the court in which Mr Blair’s killer, who cannot be named because he is still a juvenile, was clearly seen tapping a knife against his leg as he stood close to O’Connor, before the fateful scuffle at the door of the house broke out.

This juvenile pleaded guilty in March 2020 to murdering Cameron and received a life sentence that will be reviewed in 2032.

“It is the DPP’s submission that the culpability of the accused [O’Connor] was extremely high as he was the instigator of events outside the party,” Ms Rowland continued.

Although the death of Cameron Blair could not be “laid at the door” of the respondent, Ms Rowland said the court could not decide the appeal in “a vacuum” and ignore the “febrile atmosphere” which O’Connor had played a major role in creating on the night Mr Blair was killed.

'SIGNIFICANT SENTENCE'

In response, Ronan Munro, for O’Connor, said his client had expressed his extreme regret and remorse for his involvement in events which led to Mr Blair’s death.

“He reacted, as he should have reacted, in relation to what happened,” counsel continued.

"The offender had just turned 18 years of age, he had pleaded guilty to each of the two offences early in the process and that had saved everybody quite a long trial."

Mr Munro said his client was a first-time offender who had never been imprisoned before, and the question before the court was how long should his punishment for this offence be.

“It is hard not to be emotive about this case. There are particular emotions stirred up, particularly by the event at the centre of it,” he added.

“But for someone in [his client’s] position and with his background, a two-year [custodial] sentence is a significant sentence,” he said.

On hearing submissions, Mr Justice John Edwards said that the circumstances surrounding this offence “were truly egregious”.

“A young man had lost his life,” Mr Justice Edwards said.

A balance had to be struck, but the egregious nature of the offending had to be appropriately marked. There seems to be an incorrect balance. That seems to be the case that is being made.” Judgment has been reserved.