A repeat offender who kicked a Luas commuter in an unprovoked attack is appealing the severity of his custodial sentence.
Gavin Ryan (35) with an address at Richmond Street South, Dublin 2, pleaded guilty to assault under Section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997 in the District Court.
Ryan received a custodial sentence of five months with two months suspended for two years. He also paid €250 in compensation at that time.
The District Court Appeals Court heard that on December 5, 2018, the injured party reported to gardai that he was going into work near the Luas Stop at College Green, Dublin when he was approached by a man he didn’t know, who proceeded to kick him in the left leg.
Ryan has 79 previous convictions, including 27 for public order offences.
Defence counsel for Ryan, Lydia Daly BL, today asked Judge Fiona O’Sullivan to suspend her client’s sentence entirely, considering the incident happened in 2018 and that he has engaged with probation services in the meantime.
Counsel also said Ryan was previously homeless for 11 years but is now doing very well in stable accommodation with his partner and children. Ms Daly said he was willing to pay €400 in compensation to the court.
Judge Fiona O’Sullivan adjourned the matter until October this year in order for the defence to produce a probation report.
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A young woman whose Revolut account was used in a money laundering scheme involving over €12,000 after she said she gave her “childhood sweetheart” access to the app has launched an appeal against the severity of her sentence.
Leah Meehan (21) with an address at Belfry Avenue, Citywest, Dublin 24 had pleaded guilty in the District Court to money laundering involving the sum of €12,062 between the dates of February 6, 2023 and July 16, 2023 under the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010.
Meehan was given a two month suspended sentence.
Garda Barney Francis Carroll told the District Court Appeals Court today that Meehan gave her long term partner access to her banking account.
He said that Meehan cooperated fully with the gardai when interviewed and pointed out which transactions were hers and which were carried out by her partner.
Defence solicitor for Ms Meehan, Peter Connolly, said that Meehan was very young when this incident happened and her account only came to be used when her long term partner’s Revolut account was blocked.
Mr Connolly said that even the garda involved in the case indicated that Meehan should not get a custodial sentence in this case.
He said that only 20 per cent of the transactions from the account were from Meehan and that the other 80 per cent were her partner’s responsibility.
Mr Connolly said that Meehan had never been in trouble before and was very annoyed with herself that she hadn’t kept regard to what her partner was doing.
He said that there was “a bit of naivety” in her actions even though she is still in a relationship with her partner and they are “childhood sweethearts”.
Judge Fiona O’Sullivan said that she would adjourn the matter until later in the year to allow Meehan to “put her best foot forward” before making a decision as to whether to leave her without a conviction record.