Court of Appeal orders Stephen Connor to serve 18 months for assault on former partner

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

The Court of Appeal ruled that the fully suspended sentence imposed on Stephen Connor for assaulting his former partner was unduly lenient and ordered him to serve 18 months in prison. It set a two-and-a-half-year sentence, suspending the final year.

The court said the sentencing judge had erred by giving too much weight to mitigating factors, including Connor’s early guilty plea and his reporting to gardaí. Connor had pleaded guilty to assault causing harm, false imprisonment and producing a knife during the incident at a Letterkenny home on 5 May 2018.