The Court of Appeal has reduced a Westport stonemason’s sentence for a single-punch assault and suspended the balance of the replacement term, allowing him to leave custody subject to a two-year bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour.
The court quashed the sentence imposed by Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court in July 2019: three years’ imprisonment, with the final year suspended on conditions that included 200 hours of community service. It substituted a two-year prison sentence and suspended its balance forthwith, provided Declan Conway entered an immediate bond for two years. The judgment noted that Conway had been in custody since the sentencing hearing.
Conway had pleaded guilty to assault under section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997. The offence took place in August 2016, after an argument outside his home with Matthew White, then an 18-year-old student. The Court of Appeal described the encounter as unforeseen and involving a single punch, with no weapon. White fell, struck his head and suffered serious injuries, including intracerebral haematomas, temporary hearing loss and facial weakness. He later had ongoing loss of smell and altered taste; the prognosis for those problems was uncertain.
The appeal challenged the original sentence as too severe, arguing that the sentencing judge had overstated the offence’s gravity, given insufficient weight to mitigation and erred by combining custody with community service. The Director of Public Prosecutions opposed the appeal, submitting that the sentence was within the judge’s discretion and proportionate to the offence and its consequences.
The Court of Appeal found an error in the assessment of the headline sentence. It said the sentencing judge had given insufficient weight to the context and nature of the assault and the absence of aggravating factors, while focusing on the serious injuries. The court assessed the offence’s headline sentence at three years rather than four and a half. It then reduced that to two years to reflect mitigating factors, including Conway’s good character, employment and community contribution, family care responsibilities, remorse and efforts to make restitution.
The court said further material presented on appeal, including information about the effect of imprisonment on Conway’s disabled daughter and her care, supported suspending the balance of the substituted sentence. The appeal court therefore set aside the Circuit Court sentence and imposed the two-year term with the stated bond condition.