The Court of Appeal has ruled a three-year wholly suspended sentence imposed on former soldier Cathal Crotty, for beating a woman unconscious in a random attack, was unduly lenient and jailed him for two years.
Crotty who is 22 and from Parkroe Heights, Ardnacrusha, Co Clare, was given the wholly suspended sentence in June last year for attacking 25-year-old Natasha O'Brien on O’Connell Street in Limerick in May 2022.
Ms O’Brien, who had intervened to stop Crotty using a homophobic insult towards someone else, lost consciousness during the attack.
Afterwards, Crotty boasted on Snapchat "two to put her down, two to put her out" and initially tried to blame Ms O’Brien for what had happened.
He later admitted his guilt after being shown CCTV footage and pleaded guilty to assault causing harm at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court.
The sentence led to protests nationwide and Ms O'Brien received a standing ovation in the Dáil.
Speaking today, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said the sentencing judge gave undue weight to mitigating factors in the case.
She said Crotty’s conduct deserved to be censured and punished in a sufficiently meaningful way and it was not.
The appeal on the grounds of undue leniency was brought by the Director of Public Prosecutions who argued that the suspension of the original sentence did not reflect the gravity of Crotty’s conduct and would not serve as a deterrent to others.
Crotty’s lawyers argued that the sentence was lenient but not unduly so. And they argued it was a sentence the judge was entitled to impose given the mitigating factors in the case.
Ms Justice Kennedy said people should be entitled to walk the streets at night, without fear, whether alone or in the company of others.
She said attacks on males or females were far too common and it was necessary that they be punished in an appropriate manner to communicate society's deprecation of such conduct and to deter others from behaving in a similar manner. She said the judge failed to impose a sentence which would do this.
Judge Kennedy described the attack as a "brutal, unprovoked assault on a defenceless woman", in a situation where she had asked a man to refrain from using homophobic insults against another man.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
She said Crotty reacted in an appalling manner, viciously assaulting Ms O’Brien. And she said the attack could have had even more serious consequences were it not for a good Samaritan who intervened.
She described the attack as cowardly and callous saying Crotty ran from the scene, leaving Ms O'Brien bloody and injured. His conduct was compounded, she said, by the posting of a reprehensible message on Snapchat, the motive for which was incomprehensible.
She said he pleaded guilty only when confronted by CCTV evidence, after initially claiming Ms O’Brien had instigated the attack.
The judge said the consequences for Ms O’Brien had been traumatic, physically and psychologically.
Crotty lost his job in the Defence Forces in the aftermath of the case. The consequences of a custodial sentence for him had been considered by the trial judge. But Ms Justice Kennedy said a court could not give too much weight to the inevitable consequences of a sentence which comes about as a result of an accused person’s actions.
She said the judge gave undue weight to mitigating factors. She said Crotty’s conduct deserved to be censured and punished in a sufficiently meaningful way and it was not.
Ms Justice Kennedy said the court would quash the original sentence and impose its own.
In mitigation, she said Crotty had put forward a signed plea of guilty, he had no previous convictions and was of good character. He had demonstrated shame and remorse and had offered €3,000 in compensation as a token of his remorse.
She said he had a good employment history but the weight to be attached to the effect of the custodial sentence on his career in the army was "negligible".
The judge said it was a very clear cut case. The court imposed a sentence of three years' imprisonment but suspended the final year.
Crotty was taken into custody immediately.
