A man who caused a garda to suffer a cracked cheekbone in a St Patrick’s Day assault – forcing her to miss over a year of work – has had his jail sentence replaced with community service and a peace bond on appeal.
The District Court Appeals Court heard that the incident began when the defendant, who was under the influence at the time, attempted to engage in “banter” with gardai which was “not well received”.
The injured garda told the court that she was out of work for 18 months and had to get shoulder surgery as a result of the assault.
Mark Kelly (39) with an address in Palmerstown, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty in the District Court to two counts of assault under section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997 as well as a count of using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour contrary to section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act, 1994.
He was convicted and sentenced to two five-month consecutive jail terms for assault, with a two month sentence for threatening behaviour which was suspended for two years. He later lodged an appeal against the severity of his sentence.
Detective Garda Joseph Heaphy told the court that gardai on mobile patrol approached a man who had walked to Grovers Alley near St Stephen’s Green in order to urinate on March 17, 2021.
He said that the gardai spoke to the man at length and they eventually attempted to arrest him. A struggle ensued in which Kelly threw blows at Garda Mark O’Neill and Garda Linda Crennan.
The detective garda said that Kelly punched out and slapped a number of times and he was later apprehended a short distance away and arrested.
Garda Linda Crennan told the court that she suffered a crack to her cheekbone and had to get a crown redone as a result of the altercation.
She said that she was out of work for a year and a half and had to get surgery on her shoulder as a result of the incident.
The garda said she accepted Kelly’s letter of apology but that she would have appreciated it if it had come earlier.
Defence solicitor for Kelly, Lorraine Stephens BL, said that her client was deeply remorseful for the incident. She said that her client was under the influence and attempted to engage in “banter” with the gardai which was not well received. She said that the gardai’s move to arrest him surprised him and the incident escalated very quickly.
Ms Stephens said that her client found it difficult to accept that he had assaulted the female garda.
She said that the incident was out of character for Kelly but he has accepted that it would not have happened if not for his behaviour.
Judge Jonathan Dunphy said that imposing a custodial term on Kelly would be of little benefit to society, but that his actions do warrant a criminal conviction.
He decided to replace the five-month sentence for the assault on Garda Crennan with 120 hours of community service and ordered for compensation of €1,000 to be paid to her.
He also replaced the sentence of five months for the assault on Garda O’Neill with a peace bond to last 24 months, and ordered for €1,000 in compensation to be paid to him. He decided to allow Kelly’s appeal on the count for threatening behaviour.