The Court of Appeal quashed community service sentences imposed on Peadar Macken for assault causing harm and producing an article, and resentenced him to concurrent prison terms suspended in full for four years.
The court ruled on 5 March 2018 on an appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions, who argued the original sentences were unduly lenient. Macken had been convicted by a jury of both offences, which took place on 28 May 2008.
The Circuit Court had imposed 180 hours of community service in lieu of four years’ imprisonment for assault causing harm, and 60 hours in lieu of two years for producing an article. The Court of Appeal agreed with the four-year headline sentence identified by the sentencing judge, but found that replacing the prison terms entirely with community service was an error. It said the circumstances did not justify a sentence without at least some custodial element.
The offences involved an attack on Martin Whelan in Whelan’s home in Carraroe, County Galway. The judgment records that Macken hit Whelan with a bottle, then broke it and stabbed him in the neck. Whelan escaped and contacted emergency services. He later described permanent scars to his face and under his jaw, and lasting distress following the assault.
The Director’s appeal submissions identified the use of a weapon, the attack in the victim’s home, and the abuse of hospitality as aggravating factors. Macken’s counsel accepted the original sentence was lenient but argued it was not unduly so. The judgment also records mitigating submissions including rehabilitation, sobriety and €5,000 compensation paid to Whelan. The Court of Appeal said it took account of both aggravating and mitigating factors, as well as Macken’s behaviour in the years since the offences.
The court imposed four years’ imprisonment for assault causing harm and two years for producing an article, to run concurrently. It suspended the whole sentence for four years, on condition that Macken enter into a €100 bond and continue to comply with Probation Service requirements, including the voluntary work in which he had engaged.
The source judgment ends mid-sentence after referring to the conditions of suspension. The stated bond and Probation Service conditions are included above; no further condition is supplied in the available text.