Court archive
Kilkenny Circuit Court
2025-07-24 · Carlow
Ms Justice Tara Burns reduced the prison sentences of brothers Colin Murphy (36) and Glen Murphy (33) from ten years to eight years each following an appeal against their convictions for a Christmas Day crime spree in Co. Carlow. The original sentencing judge, Judge Cormac Quinn, had imposed consecutive sentences for offences including criminal damage to an MPV and Eir poles, assault causing harm, and a serious assault leaving a man unconscious. Ms Justice Burns ruled that consecutive sentencing was inappropriate given the closely connected nature of the offending within the same criminal transaction. She quashed the original sentences and resentenced both appellants. For Glen Murphy, who was convicted of criminal damage to an MPV, criminal damage to Eir poles, assault causing harm, and assault on a man left unconscious, the total sentence was set at nine and a half years, with the final 18 months suspended for 18 months. Similarly, Colin Murphy received a total sentence of nine and a half years, with the final 18 months suspended for 18 months. The court acknowledged the extreme seriousness of the assault, which caused traumatic brain injury, but determined that the aggregate sentence must reflect the single criminal transaction rather than cumulative consecutive terms.
2025-04-08 · Kilkenny
A 63‑year‑old man who sexually abused and coerced his two daughters over ten years was originally sentenced to four and a half years in prison. The State appealed, arguing the sentence was too lenient. The Court of Appeal quashed the original term and re‑sentenced him to a global term of 12 years. The man pleaded guilty to 20 of 74 counts of sexual assault. The younger daughter was abused from age six to thirteen; the older from age ten to around sixteen, with abuse escalating to oral sex and physical coercion. The court found the original judge had imposed disproportionate sentences of three years and 18 months, respectively, and that the judge had failed to impose a proportionate sentence. The new sentence of 12 years is to run consecutively for both victims, with each victim's portion reduced to six years after mitigation and totality considerations.
2017-10-25 · Kilkenny
Gerard Dowling, aged 40, of The Sycamores, Freshford Road, Kilkenny, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to attempted murder of 60‑year‑old Simon Burke at Market Cross Shopping Centre on 13 July 2016. He also pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to assaulting Mr Burke and to producing a knife during the same incident. Dowling has a long history of paranoid schizophrenia, having been admitted to hospital on several occasions since 1998. Psychiatrist Dr Brenda Wright testified that Dowling exhibited symptoms of paranoia and delusion, including grandiose beliefs about wealth and employment, and that he had sent threatening text messages to his former partner in 2015. She stated that Dowling's illness meant he did not understand that assaulting Mr Burke was morally wrong and that he had not taken his medication for many months.