Martin Hayes loses appeal against sentence for partner’s manslaughter

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 against the 12-and-a-half-year sentence imposed for the manslaughter of Amadea McDermott. He was found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter by a Central Criminal Court jury in 2023.

Hayes argued that the sentencing judge gave excessive weight to aggravating factors and too little weight to mitigation. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding there were limited mitigating factors and that the offence was correctly placed in the category carrying a headline sentence of 10 to 15 years.

The appeal court cited domestic violence, recent facial injuries and older bruising, as well as evidence of coercive control. It also rejected a challenge to the trial judge’s assessment of the factual basis for the manslaughter verdict.