Martin Hayes fails to have 12-and-a-half-year manslaughter sentence reduced on appeal

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Martin Hayes has failed in his appeal to reduce his 12-and-a-half-year sentence for the manslaughter of Amadea McDermott. A Central Criminal Court jury found him not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter in November 2023; he was sentenced that month.

The Court of Appeal dismissed his challenge to the sentence. It upheld the 14-year headline sentence before mitigation, finding that domestic violence aggravated the offence and that mitigating factors were limited. It also rejected his argument that the sentencing judge had erred in determining the factual basis for manslaughter.