Courts / Cork / Report

No sentence increase for scissors stabbing

Date
2020-10-09

Stage
Appeal

Primary locality
Cork City

County
Cork

Summary

In a 2020 Court of Appeal decision, the sentence of Ryan Compton, aged 30, was upheld at four years with two years suspended for assault causing serious harm to Nigel Walsh. Compton, a Londoner living in Cork, had stabbed Walsh five times with a four‑and‑a‑half‑inch embroidery scissors during a confrontation at Grand Parade on 22 March 2019. Walsh suffered punctured lungs, chest, back, elbow and armpit injuries and required intensive care, including a breathing tube. Compton admitted buying the scissors out of fear of Walsh's threats, which had persisted for nine months. The appeal, brought by the DPP, was dismissed after the Court of Appeal found the original sentence appropriate, noting Compton's lack of prior convictions and mitigating circumstances. No sentence increase was granted.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: No sentence increase for scissors stabbing. Procedural stage: appeal

When:

March 22, 2019 Incident
March 22 Incident
April 9, 2019 Incident
2020-10-09 Publication

Case subjects

Unnamed man

Appellant

Outcome: In February Ryan Compton (30), of Woodvale Road, Beaumont, Cork, a Londoner living in Cork, was sentenced to four years with the last two suspended at Cork Circuit Court for assault causing serious harm to Nigel Walsh at Parnell Place in Cork City on March 22, 2019. The trial judge did not err in placing the offence in the middle range, Mr Justice McCarthy said, who added that when all circumstances were taken into account the trial judge was entitled to take the view that four years was a correct sentence before mitigating factors meant that two years were suspended.