2024-11-15
'Deranged': ban on reporting previous jailing of Cahir O'Higgins is lifted
Stage: Sentence
Plea: Guilty
Outcome: He was sentenced to 16 months in jail by Judge Kenneth Connolly on July 22 this year for the harassment and assault charges, but this sentence was deferred until the end of September to allow O'Higgins to settle his affairs and shut down his solicitor practice – referred to in court as previously the most successful criminal practice in the country. The decision came in the wake of a scathing sentence ruling delivered by Judge Connolly, in which he described the various aspects of O'Higgins' behaviour as "deranged", "thuggish", "base" and "despicable". "The harassment arose from an irrational obsession deriving from the fact the two parties were in competition for the same work," the judge said, noting that this is a "natural element" of solicitor work that occurs "every day of the week in this building". "He chose to bully Mr O'Mahony out of the space he was occupying on a professional basis," Judge Connolly said. "Mr O'Higgins believed