The Court of Appeal has reduced Wesley O’Brien’s six-year sentence for violent disorder to four years after finding that parity was required with another man involved in the same serious attack.
O’Brien had been sentenced in Dublin Circuit Court on 24 February 2012. He had originally stood trial on charges including assault causing serious harm and violent disorder. On the second day of the trial, prosecutors accepted a plea to the lesser offence of assault causing harm.
He ultimately received three-and-a-half years for that assault and six years for violent disorder. His appeal challenged only the violent disorder sentence.
The case arose from an attack at the home of an injured party identified as Mr Connors. The Court of Appeal described the incident as extremely serious. Several people took part and Connors was struck with sticks and golf clubs. He lost consciousness and suffered two skull fractures, other broken bones, rib injuries, a fractured wrist and additional injuries.
The central appeal issue was the treatment of another participant, Mr Nealon. He had been dealt with separately in Wicklow Circuit Court and pleaded guilty to the more serious offence of assault causing serious harm as well as violent disorder. He received six years for the assault and four years for violent disorder.
O’Brien argued that it was inconsistent for him to receive a six-year violent disorder sentence when Nealon received four years for that same offence, particularly after prosecutors had accepted O’Brien’s plea to the less serious assault charge.
The DPP sought to distinguish O’Brien’s role by reference to evidence that he had produced or threatened Connors with a knife, although defence counsel said later evidence referred instead to a slash hook.
The Court of Appeal concluded that the decisive issue was sentencing disparity. As four years had been fixed and upheld as the appropriate violent disorder sentence for Nealon, the same term should apply to O’Brien.
His violent disorder sentence was therefore reduced to four years. The three-and-a-half-year assault sentence remained unchanged.