Charlie Lawlor given suspended sentence for assaulting couple

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

Charlie Lawlor was given a fully suspended two-and-a-half-year sentence for assaulting a lesbian couple in Dun Laoghaire. He pleaded guilty to assaulting the two women.

Circuit Judge Martin Nolan passed sentence on 31 January 2024. The proceedings were reported on 1 February 2024.

The assault took place on Church Street, Dun Laoghaire, on 11 August 2022. The women had tried to intervene after an argument between Lawlor and his girlfriend turned violent. The report said Lawlor directed homophobic slurs at the women.

One woman required surgery and was left with a visible facial scar. In a joint victim impact statement read out by the investigating officer, the couple said they had been emotionally scarred.

The prison sentence was suspended in full on condition that Lawlor did not get into further trouble during the two-and-a-half-year term. The report also said he faced fines, without specifying an amount.

Lawlor had made €7,000 available to the more seriously injured woman. Judge Nolan ordered him to provide a further €7,000 to her and €1,000 to her partner within nine months. If the women refused the compensation, it was to be donated to a local charity.

Defence counsel Olan Callanan said the offence would ordinarily merit a custodial sentence, but urged the judge not to jail Lawlor, citing his first offence and expressions of remorse. Callanan said Lawlor had attended counselling.