Andrew Smith gets two-year sentence for assault causing harm

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

Andrew Smith received a two-year prison sentence from the Court of Appeal on 5 July 2016 after his appeal against sentence for assault causing harm was allowed.

The court suspended the final 15 months for two years, with full credit for time already served, conditional on him entering a bond in the sum of 100 to keep the peace and be of good behaviour. The source's currency symbol is unreadable.

Smith pleaded guilty and was convicted of assault causing harm under section 3 of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 at Trim Circuit Criminal Court on 3 February 2015. The offence against his then partner occurred on 27 October 2013 at their home in Walkinstown, Navan, County Meath.

On 18 June 2015, he was sentenced to two years and six months, with the final six months suspended upon entering his own bond in the sum of 200 to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for six months from release. That currency symbol is also unreadable.

Smith acknowledged the details of the assault but denied locking his partner in a dog kennel. In his voluntary statement to gardaí, he asserted that she had precipitated the argument and physical confrontation.

Delivering the appeal judgment, Mr. Justice Mahon said the sentencing judge had erred by treating the kennel allegation as true. Without a Newton-type hearing to resolve the dispute, it should have been excluded and treated as not having occurred for sentencing purposes.

The appeal raised his lack of previous convictions, guilty plea, remorse, compensation offer, good work record and relative youth. The court held that custody remained necessary despite his first-offender status, but strong mitigation required suspending most of the sentence, particularly to support rehabilitation.