The Court of Criminal Appeal is seeking psychiatric and probation reports before ruling on the 15-year sentence imposed on Linda Mulhall for her part in the killing of Farah Swaleh Noor.
The sentence was imposed by the trial judge, Mr Justice Paul Carney, in the absence of these reports.
The body of 38-year-old Farah Swaleh Noor, who was originally from Kenya, was found in the Royal Canal ten days after he was killed in a flat at Richmond Cottages in Ballybough in March 2005.
During a trial at the Central Criminal Court in October 2006, the court heard how Linda Mulhall and her sister Charlotte were both involved in killing Mr Noor and then dismembering his body.
The two women later brought Mr Noor's torso, arms and legs to the Royal Canal and threw them into the water.
Linda Mulhall brought Mr Noor's head to a park in Tallaght but despite extensive garda searches it has not been found.
After 18 hours of deliberations last October, Charlotte Mulhall was found guilty of murder and was given a life sentence.
Linda Mulhall. of Kilclare Gardens in Jobstown in Tallaght, was found guilty of manslaughter and given a 15-year prison sentence.
She had appealed the severity of the 15-year prison term.
When the appeal was heard last December, her barrister Brendan Grehan said the sentence was ‘excessive’, and that the trial Judge should not have gone ahead with sentencing in the absence of psychiatric and probation reports.
The three Judges of the Appeal Court, Ms Justice Fidelma Macken, Mr Justice Roderick Murphy and Mr Justice Éamon de Valera, had reserved judgment until this morning.
The court said today that it would have been open to Mr Justice Carney not to impose sentence until he had sight of probation and psychiatric reports.
The appeal court said it wished to see these reports before reaching a decision on whether the 15-year sentence was too severe.
Linda Mulhall was in court this morning.
