Paul Brannigan jailed for golf-club assault in Dublin

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

Paul Brannigan received three years in prison for assaulting Jason Saunders with a golf club at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, concurrent with two years for head-butting him. The proceedings were reported on 15 December 2015.

Brannigan had pleaded not guilty to two assault charges, producing an article and manslaughter. Those charges arose from events on 18 March 2014 at Fassaugh Avenue in Cabra West.

Earlier in December 2015, jurors found Brannigan guilty of the assaults involving a head-butt and a golf-club strike against Jason Saunders. They also convicted him of producing an article capable of causing serious injury during a fight. Saunders died shortly after the attack. The trial lasted six days, and jurors deliberated for almost five hours without agreeing on a verdict on the manslaughter charge.

Judge Patrick McCartan said he was sentencing only for the offences that had resulted in convictions. He set the prison terms at three years for the golf-club attack and two years for the head-butt, with the sentences running concurrently.