DPP appeal against Pearse McAuley sentence set for 7 November 2016

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

The Director of Public Prosecutions’ appeal against Pearse McAuley’s 12-year prison sentence, with four years suspended, was scheduled to begin on 7 November 2016. It challenged the sentence on grounds of undue leniency. The hearing was listed before Justice Sean Ryan, Justice Alan Mahon and Justice John A. Edwards in Court 22 of the Central Criminal Courts of Justice. The proceedings were reported on 6 November 2016.

McAuley pleaded guilty to a sustained knife attack on his estranged wife, Pauline Tully. The attack took place at their family home in Kilnaleck at Christmas 2014.

Judge John Aylmer had imposed the 12-year sentence, suspending four years, at Cavan Circuit Court late the previous year. The DPP’s application sought a review of that sentence.

The other sentences were three years for producing a knife during a dispute on 24 December 2014 at Kilderry, Kilnaleck, Cavan; six years for falsely imprisoning Ms Tully; and four years for threatening to kill Tommy, her brother. These prison terms were concurrent.

The report separately described the sentence for serious assault causing harm to Ms Tully as eight years. It said that sentence ran from 27 December 2014, the date McAuley first entered custody.