Joanne Seweeney v. Her Majetys's Advocate [2009] HCJAC 93

Criminal Note of Appeal Against Sentence:- The appellant was convicted after trial in the High Court at Glasgow of a charge of murder along with her co-accused, Alexander Leith. A further co-accused, Paul Pollin, had pled guilty to murder in advance of the trial. The trial judge imposed sentences of life imprisonment on each of the accused. The punishment part in respect of co-accused Leith was 17 years, in respect of co-accused Pollin 13 years, which had been reduced from 16 years on account of his guilty plea, and in respect of the appellant was 12 years, with no order in relation to the bail aggravation in the charge of which the appellant was convicted. It was submitted on behalf of the appellant that a punishment part of 12 years was excessive as all the appellant had done had been to kick the deceased on his legs, after the two co-accused had commenced their assault on the deceased. At the age of 8 the appellant was the victim of serious sexual abuse. She then failed to receive any form of psychiatric support or assistance. She was made the subject of a supervision requirement, however, a shortage of qualified social workers resulted in her not being supervised in the manner that was to be expected. The appellant subsequently became addicted to alcohol and heroin. Here the court considered whether the exceptional mitigatory circumstances before the court, in particular, from psychologist Dr Gary MacPherson, rendered the punishment part of 12 years excessive.