Michael Byrne, a 77‑year‑old former secondary school teacher from Rosewell, Templerainey, Arklow, pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault on a boy aged 11 to 15 between 1975 and 1978. He was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment, with the final four years suspended, by Judge Michael O'Shea at Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court on 10 April 2014. The Court of Appeal rejected Byrne's application to review the sentence. The appeal panel, chaired by Mr Justice Seán Ryan, noted that Byrne's offences involved calculated grooming, repeated touching, groping, and the accused masturbating the boy, exploiting the boy's medical condition to obtain sperm samples. The judge described the conduct as cold, calculated, pre‑meditated and that of a predator. The Court of Appeal found no error in principle and upheld the eight‑year term, with the suspended portion remaining in place. Cormac Walsh, the victim, expressed delight at the decision. The case remains at the sentencing stage.
In a High Court appeal over a boundary dispute between the Rueters and the Madigans, Kathleen Maureen Rueter denied allegations that her family had damaged the white thorn and blackthorn hedge that marks the boundary between their properties. She also rejected claims that the lane outside the Madigans' home had been widened in 2003 to allow access to the Rueters' caravan park. The Madigans had previously won a Circuit Court judgment awarding them €5,000 for trespass and nuisance and a right of way to maintain their hedge. Rueter stated that since acquiring the land in 1964 her family had maintained and improved the lane, and that any work carried out in 2003 only raised parts of the road surface without significantly widening it. She maintained that the hedge had not been "butchered" and that a gap in the boundary hedge was caused by the Madigans. The case before Mr Justice Kearns is expected to conclude early next week.
In a High Court hearing on 16 October 2014, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns announced that the court would intensify judicial management to maximise efficient use of court time, following a Supreme Court decision urging tighter case management. The comments were made in a case where Mr Kevin Breen, a signalman at Iarnrod Eireann, was awarded €25,000 in damages for alleged bullying by a colleague, Mr Louis Naessens, between 2004 and 2010 at Gorey Rail Station. Breen claimed repeated criticism, confusing instructions and threats from Naessens, and that an internal investigation in December 2009 found Naessens' conduct amounted to bullying. Breen said the company failed to act, despite offering a Corrective Coaching Programme, and that the bullying continued until his transfer to Arklow Station in February 2011. Iarnrod Eireann denied the claims, stating it had undertaken counselling, mediation and investigation.
Anthony Farrell, a 23-year-old man with a previous address at Marian Villas, Arklow, appeared before the Court of Criminal Appeal to challenge his 2011 life imprisonment sentence for the murder of John Deasy. Farrell, who was 19 at the time of the incident, was convicted by a unanimous jury in April 2011 and sentenced in May 2011 for stabbing Mr Deasy at Brauder's shop in Arklow on November 25, 2009. His counsel, Michael O'Higgins SC, argued that Farrell acted in self-defence while attempting an unlawful escape from the premises he had robbed. O'Higgins submitted that Farrell was never asked by gardaí if he was acting in self-defence and believed his life was under threat. Conversely, DPP counsel Una Ní Raifeartaigh SC contended that self-defence does not apply to unlawful force, noting that Mr Deasy was using lawful force to guard the door against a burglar wielding a knife. Farrell's interview statements indicated he stabbed Mr Deasy to clear the doorway and escape, without expressing fear. Presiding Judge Donal O'Donnell, joined by Justices Michael Moriarty and Daniel Herbert, reserved judgment in the appeal. The matter was adjourned, and no final decision was reached during this hearing.
In 2009 Raymond O'Shea was given a wholly suspended sentence of three‑and‑a‑half years for possessing a sawn‑off shotgun and 131 cartridges. He had 19 prior convictions, including drug possession and burglary, but had stopped using drugs, was employed and paying a mortgage. He pleaded not guilty. The Director of Public Prosecutions appealed, arguing the sentence was unduly lenient and that the judge had erred in allowing an exception to the mandatory five‑year minimum for unlawful firearm possession. The Court of Criminal Appeal, presided over by Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman, agreed with the DPP. Hardiman said the sentence should have been five years with four years suspended, describing the original suspended sentence as "extreme leniency". O'Shea will surrender to prison on 27 January to arrange his affairs.