Paul Brannigan sentenced for assault in Dublin

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

Paul Brannigan was sentenced to three and a half years, with the final eight months suspended, for assaulting Jason Saunders with a golf club. The proceedings were reported on 3 December 2018.

Brannigan had pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and two charges of assault causing harm to Mr Saunders. After a trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in July 2018, the jury convicted him of the golf club assault and acquitted him of the other assault, which arose from his head-butting Mr Saunders. Brannigan said he had head-butted him in self-defence.

The jury could not reach a verdict on manslaughter. Prosecuting counsel Elva Duffy BL said this was the second trial and that the Director of Public Prosecutions would not seek a third trial on that charge.

The assault occurred at Fassaugh Avenue, Cabra, on 18 March 2014. Mr Saunders, 21, died on the roadside after the altercation. Judge Martina Baxter said there was no verdict on the cause of his death and that she was sentencing Brannigan strictly for one assault.

Judge Baxter noted that Brannigan claimed he had used the golf club to scare Mr Saunders off and had acted in self-defence, but said the jury rejected that account. She ordered that he receive credit for 22 months already served.

After sentencing, the judge allowed Mr Saunders's mother, Geraldine Saunders, to address the court. She was not entitled to submit a victim impact statement because of a gap in the law. She said she felt she had lost everything when she buried her son.