NOTORIOUS ARMED robber Frank Ward, who received two life sentences for shooting publican Charlie Chawke during a robbery, has succeeded in having his sentence reduced to one of 20 years on appeal.
The Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday found there had been an error in principle in the imposition of two concurrent life sentences on Ward (58) for shooting and robbing Mr Chawke in the car park of the Goat Grill, Goatstown, Dublin, on October 6th, 2003.
Ward, a father of three, of Knockmore Avenue, Tallaght, Dublin, had pleaded guilty to five charges relating to assault causing serious harm and the possession of a firearm.
During the robbery, Mr Chawke tried to seize the pump-action shotgun carried by Ward but he fell and was shot in the leg.
Ward, who robbed Mr Chawke of almost €50,000, approached his victim and discharged the weapon from a range of about six to 12 inches, telling him: “I will sort you out.”
Mr Chawke’s right leg had to be amputated above the knee after the attack.
In 1981 Ward was jailed for 12 years by the Special Criminal Court for his part in an armed robbery at the Bank of Ireland in Stillorgan, during which two gardaí were shot and injured.
Fifteen years later Ward was again jailed for armed robbery; receiving an 11-year sentence for the possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
He shot Mr Chawke just four months after his release from prison for this offence.
At the Court of Criminal Appeal, Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan, presiding, said the court found there had been an element of preventive sentencing at the trial in the decision of Judge Patrick McCartan, to impose a life tariff on Ward.
He said that Judge McCartan’s remark that the imposition of a life sentence was “simply to ensure” that Ward would not be released from prison until the authorities were satisfied that he no longer posed a threat to the community had caused the court some disquiet.
Mr Justice Finnegan, with Mr Justice Michael Hanna and Mr Justice Daniel O’Keeffe, said the court determined that Ward’s offending warranted a “most serious” but “determinative” sentence and that the appropriate prison term was one of 20 years.
Ward, who represented himself at the hearing, had argued that the sentence imposed offered him no certainty as to when he would be released and it made it clear that even upon his release, he would remain on licence and could be taken back to prison at any time.
Paddy McCarthy SC, for the State, told the court that Judge McCartan was entitled to impose the maximum sentence.
Ward was a career criminal, he said, who had perpetrated a well-organised crime during which a man lost his leg in violent circumstances.