Jail for attack after ‘unduly lenient’ sentence appealed

A security guard of a ghost estate who attacked a woman unprovoked in her home has been sentenced to two years in prison following a finding by the Court of Appeal that his wholly suspended three-year sentence was “unduly lenient”.

Alan Kilmartin, aged 35, of Davitt Terrace, Cloughleigh, Ennis, Co Clare, pleaded guilty at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm to a woman at Acha Bhaile, Lahinch Rd, Ennis, on March 2, 2012.

He was given a wholly suspended three-year prison sentence, suspended for five years on conditions, by Judge Carroll Moran on November 25, 2013.

The DPP successfully argued in the Court of Appeal last month that Kilmartin’s sentence was unduly lenient.

Mr Justice Seán Ryan said yesterday there were undoubtedly mitigating features in favour of Kilmartin but they did not “obliterate the seriousness of the crimes”, their severity and their impact on the vicitm.

Mr Justice Ryan said Kilmartin was employed as a security man in the area of the victims’ residence when

he called to her apartment and “set about attacking her with a metal implement”.

He said Kilmartin’s plea of guilty and the fact he was suffering from a psychiatric illness were “genuine mitigating features”.However, there was no way the judge was legitimately entitled to decide on a wholly suspended sentence.