O’Donoghue trial judge ‘wrong on key features’

THE judge who sentenced child killer Wayne O’Donoghue failed to take into account key features of the Corkman’s characteristics and behaviour in deciding how long he should serve in prison, it was claimed in the Court of Criminal Appeal.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was appealing as too lenient the four-year sentence handed down to O’Donoghue, 21, in January this year for the manslaughter of his 11-year-old neighbour, Robert Holohan, by what he claimed was accidental strangling at Midleton, Co Cork in January 2005.

A three-judge panel chaired by Ms Justice Fidelma Macken heard the appeal yesterday but because of court holidays beginning on Monday will not deliver the judgement until the new term begins in October.