Larry McCarthy’s appeal against assault and violent disorder convictions dismissed

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

Larry McCarthy’s appeal against his convictions for assault causing harm and violent disorder was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on 31 May 2018. Mr Justice Mahon delivered the court’s judgment.

The convictions followed a trial at the Special Criminal Court on 3 July 2017. The charges concerned an assault on David Foran and violent disorder involving McCarthy and at least two other people at Cornmarket Villas, Little Gerald Griffin Street, Limerick, on 25 November 2014.

On 31 July 2017, McCarthy received concurrent prison sentences of three years for assault causing harm and six years for violent disorder, backdated to 30 July 2015. He also appealed against sentence.

A central issue in the conviction appeal was the admission of two statements Foran made to gardaí on 27 November and 15 December 2014. In them, he identified McCarthy as his assailant. At trial, Foran’s evidence was broadly consistent with the statements except for his identification of McCarthy as the person who threatened and stabbed him.

On 10 April 2015, Foran signed a further statement withdrawing his allegations against McCarthy. He said he did not want the matter to proceed and referred to an erroneous statement he may have made.

McCarthy argued that the statements should not have been admitted, that the trial judges had given them excessive weight and that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence. The Court of Appeal held that the statements were correctly admitted and that the verdict was open to the trial court on the evidence.