The Court of Appeal has dismissed Liam Concannon’s appeal against a seven-year prison sentence for causing serious harm in an assault in Killorglin, County Kerry.
In its ex tempore judgment delivered on 1 April 2019, the court said it was not persuaded that there had been an error in principle and considered the sentence within the approximate range for an offence of this type. The appeal was against sentence; the court did not overturn the conviction or impose a new sentence.
Concannon had pleaded guilty on 17 February 2017 to causing serious harm under section 4 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997. He had also pleaded guilty to producing an article in a manner likely to intimidate under section 11 of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act 1990, but a nolle prosequi was entered on that count. On 29 May 2017, he received seven years’ imprisonment on the serious-harm count, backdated to 25 October 2016, with the final 18 months suspended.
The assault took place on St Patrick’s Day in 2014 in a public house. The judgment said Concannon struck the complainant over the head more than once with a pool cue, causing a complex open skull fracture, brain contusions and a subdural haematoma. The complainant, who was 22 at the time, continued to experience migraines, impaired vision and night terrors, and required counselling and neurological care.
Concannon argued that the sentencing judge had not clearly explained where the offence sat on the severity scale or how the mitigating factors affected the sentence. Those factors included his guilty plea, early admission, letter of remorse, work history and personal circumstances. He also challenged the seven-year suspension period, saying it could leave him subject to punishment for an aggregate 12 and a half years.
The Court of Appeal said the sentencing judge had suspended the final 18 months because of mitigating factors. It also noted aggravating circumstances, including the nature and impact of the assault, Concannon’s previous assault convictions, and a probation report indicating a moderate risk of further offending and anger-management problems.
The court said the suspension period began when Concannon was taken into custody under a European Arrest Warrant in 2016, not on his release, and ended in April 2023. It dismissed the appeal.