The Court of Appeal has quashed the prison sentences imposed on Stephen Brophy for violent disorder and assault causing harm during a feud between two families in Roscrea, replacing them with concurrent terms and reducing the post-release suspension period from seven years to two.
Brophy had been sentenced at Nenagh Circuit Criminal Court on 20 April 2017 to four years for violent disorder and three years for assault causing harm. The final two years of the combined term were suspended. The appeal court instead imposed four years for violent disorder, with the final two years suspended, and three years for assault causing harm, with the final year suspended. The sentences are to run concurrently. The suspended terms remain subject to the Circuit Court’s conditions, but the post-release period is two years rather than seven.
The charges arose from an incident on 20 June 2015, during a prolonged confrontation between the McCarthy/O’Donohoe and Hutchinson/Marshall families in Ashbury View, Roscrea. The judgment says Gardaí faced serious danger from missiles as they tried to separate the groups.
During the incident, Brophy, described in the judgment as a member of the Hutchinson/Marshall faction, threw a pitchfork towards the other group. It bounced and struck Sharon McCarthy in the lip and chin. She was taken to hospital and underwent surgery; the injury left a visible scar that caused her upset and embarrassment. The prosecution accepted the pitchfork was not aimed at a particular person and struck her by chance.
The appeal court said the Circuit Court had erred by making the sentences consecutive for offences arising from the same transaction. It also found that, even if concurrent, the original terms were too long under the totality principle. The judges said Brophy’s prior record did not by itself justify the disparity between his sentence and those of co-accused, but the use of a dangerous weapon and the significant injury distinguished his conduct.
The court said the substituted sentences reflected mitigating factors and were conducive to avoiding future offending. Its judgment was delivered on 25 October 2018.