Daragh Houlihan given suspended sentence for robbery

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

Daragh Houlihan was given a two-year-and-three-month suspended sentence for robbing his pregnant girlfriend’s phone. The proceedings were reported on 26 January 2024.

Houlihan, of Chapel Lane, Newbridge, Co Kildare, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to robbery on Rathmines Road on 4 May 2021. He had no previous convictions.

On 26 January 2024, Judge Orla Crowe set a headline sentence of three years, reducing it to two years and three months because of mitigating factors. She suspended the sentence for three years on strict conditions.

The conditions included no further direct contact with the injured party and notifying the Probation Service if he began a new intimate relationship. Houlihan undertook to cooperate with a programme addressing intimate partner violence, anger management and offence-focused intervention.

At an earlier hearing, the court heard that Houlihan grabbed the woman’s phone after a struggle over a knife at her home and pushed her several times, including onto the ground. The report said he later pushed her again and struck her with his leg when she followed him to ask for her phone.

Houlihan admitted taking the phone but denied pushing her or behaving violently. He said he believed she was texting someone about him, which upset him. He said he had tried to put the knife out of reach and that she had threatened to jump from a window, so he may have used force to stop her.

Judge Crowe said addiction played a significant role in his offending, providing some explanation but no excuse. Defence counsel said Houlihan had cocaine and heroin addiction issues and was completing a residential treatment programme.