Dessie O’Hare given date for false imprisonment sentence appeal

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

Dessie O’Hare was given a Court of Appeal hearing date of 14 December 2020 for his appeal against sentence. The date was assigned on 13 July 2020.

The proceedings were reported on 13 July 2020.

O’Hare had admitted assaulting John Roche, causing him harm, and pleaded guilty to falsely imprisoning Martin Byrne. The offences took place on 9 June 2015: the assault was at The Towers, Garter Lane, Saggart, and the false imprisonment was at Rathcoole and Saggart.

The three-judge Special Criminal Court was asked to take into consideration two counts of falsely imprisoning Mr Byrne’s wife and son. The false imprisonment occurred while the family was being evicted from their south Dublin home.

O’Hare was sentenced to three years for assaulting Mr Roche and 10 years for falsely imprisoning Mr Byrne, with three years suspended for the rest of his life. The sentences were running concurrently.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt said the violent side of O’Hare’s personality was not in remission and that his threat to society had “not completely abated”. O’Hare’s barrister, Mark Lynam BL, said his client wanted to be present for the appeal hearing.