The Court of Appeal reduced Patrick Sherlock’s sentence for assault causing harm, replacing a four-year term with a three-year sentence and suspending its final nine months for three years after his release.
Sherlock had pleaded guilty at Galway Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting Eamon Folan on 25 March 2012. The judgment says Sherlock struck Folan once with a car jack, causing a compound fracture to his left arm that required internal fixation and a metal plate. Folan later experienced physical difficulties, including pain, reduced strength and wrist locking, as well as insomnia and depression.
The appeal concerned the sentence imposed on 26 March 2015. Sherlock’s grounds included claims that the sentencing judge placed the offence too high on the gravity scale, gave insufficient weight to mitigation and rehabilitation, and should have considered alternative sentences or adjourned sentencing for anger management therapy and counselling.
The sentencing judge had described the assault as severe and placed it at the highest point on the gravity scale. The judge noted Sherlock’s guilty plea, regret and remorse, an offer of €3,000 compensation that Folan declined, Sherlock’s previous convictions, and a probation report assessing his risk of reoffending at the high end of medium.
Allowing the appeal, the Court of Appeal said the submissions about the circumstances of the assault were credible and should have received greater weight. Folan had approached Sherlock, who was already holding the car jack because of work he was doing; the court accepted it had not been picked up as a weapon. It also noted the implement was not a conventional weapon and the assault consisted of one blow, with no further attack after Folan was disabled. The court said the offence should have been placed closer to the lower end of the gravity scale and that, before mitigation, a sentence of about three years was appropriate rather than four.
The court resentenced Sherlock to three years. It suspended the final nine months for three years after release, on condition that he enter a €100 bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour. The court gave only minimal recognition to the guilty plea because it came after Folan had testified and been cross-examined. It identified other mitigating factors, including Sherlock’s mediation work to address feuding among Traveller families, which he continued in prison and which prison authorities recognised.