Man's jail term for assault overturned, despite having 'no insight at all' into offending
A man who grabbed a woman by the neck has had his four-month jail term replaced with a fully suspended sentence on appeal, despite a judge finding that the defendant seemed to have “no insight at all” into the seriousness of his actions.
Judge Deidre Browne said that she had “very significant concerns” over Richard Joseph Doyle (34) following a report by the probation services.
Doyle, with an address in Lucan, County Dublin, was convicted in the District Court of two counts of assault contrary to section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997. He was sentenced to four months imprisonment on one count, with the second taken into consideration.
He was also convicted of threatening to damage property belonging to the woman in a way that was likely to endanger her life, contrary to section 3 of the Criminal Damage Act, 1991. He was sentenced to four months in custody to run concurrently.
Doyle was also fined 200 euro and ordered to pay a further 200 euro in compensation to the injured party for damaging the front door window pane of the house contrary to section 2(1) of the same act. He later lodged an appeal against the severity of his sentence.
Sergeant Shay Leonard told the District Court Appeals Court on Monday that a woman reported an incident following a “large argument” at a house in west Dublin on May 29, 2021.
He said the injured party alleged that Doyle grabbed her by the neck and that a slight red mark was left.
Sergeant Leonard said that a statement was taken and Doyle was arrested. The witness said that the injured party declined to submit a victim impact statement for the appeal.
Defence counsel for Doyle, Lydia Daly BL, said that her client has since made up with the injured party and that he is now working full time. She also said that he had drug addiction issues in the past.
Judge Deirdre Browne said that she had “very significant concerns” based on a report prepared by the probation services.
She told Doyle that he seemed to have: “no insight at all into what you did and the seriousness of what you did”, based on the report’s findings.
Judge Browne said it seemed that Doyle did not have a real understanding of the risk and the harm that he did after “putting someone in fear in their home”. She said that the report deemed that he had limited victim empathy.
Ms Daly said that her client had talked through the incident with the injured party and that they have made amends.
Judge Browne noted that Doyle was asked to leave but failed to do so in this incident, telling him: “it’s not up to you to call the shots in that situation”.
She said that from a societal point of view, if she affirmed his four month sentence he would be “in one door” of the prison and out again quickly. She said that it would be better to facilitate a significant probation period for this case.
Judge Browne said that she made her decision with “somewhat of a heavy heart” and a sincere hope that Doyle has a real engagement with probation.
The judge decided to increase Doyle’s sentences for both the assault and criminal damage charges from four months to nine months but fully suspended them for a period of nine months.
These were imposed under the condition that Doyle enter into the supervision of the probation services and attend all meetings and offence-focused work with them.
Judge Browne also made the direction that he engage with the Men Overcoming Violence program or an appropriate alternative and disclose any intimate partner relationship to the probation services. He must also attend any drug intervention or screening as directed by the service, as well as therapeutic programs.