Alan Curtis resentenced for causing serious harm with hurley

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Court of Appeal resentenced Alan Curtis to five years’ imprisonment, with the final 12 months suspended, for causing serious harm to a teenage boy with a hurley. The proceedings were reported on 11 October 2019.

Curtis pleaded not guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to David McClelland, then 16, at Cashel Road, Crumlin, Dublin, on 28 March 2014. He claimed self-defence, but a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court found him guilty. He was initially sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, with the final two years suspended.

Judge Terence O’Sullivan said Curtis had seen someone deliberately damage his car during an incident involving youths outside his mother’s house and identified Mr McClelland as responsible. Curtis took a hurley outside to drive the boys away. The judge accepted that Mr McClelland had attempted to strike Curtis with a plank but missed; Curtis then followed him some distance and hit him with the hurley. The judge said the jury had taken the view that Curtis was no longer defending himself when he struck him.

Mr McClelland suffered a depressed skull fracture and underwent an emergency operation. He was referred to the National Rehabilitation Hospital for treatment for the injury and resulting damage to his speech mechanism.

The Director of Public Prosecutions successfully sought a review of the original sentence on the ground that it was unduly lenient. Giving judgment for the three-judge Court of Appeal, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said the proper approach would have been to speak peacefully to the boys and, if that failed, call the gardaí.