Michael John Walsh has been refused leave to appeal to the Supreme Court over his sentence for assault causing harm. The determination was delivered on 16 June 2015.
Mr Walsh pleaded guilty at Clonmel Circuit Criminal Court on 12 December 2012 to two counts of assault causing harm to two different people. He received sentences of three and a half years and four years, to run consecutively. The sentencing judge suspended the final 18 months of the overall sentence on conditions, because of mitigating factors.
He appealed to the Court of Appeal. That court rejected his complaint about mitigation in a judgment delivered by Mr Justice Kelly on 10 November 2014.
Mr Walsh then asked the Supreme Court to hear a further appeal. He wanted to argue that judges should normally reduce a sentence unconditionally for mitigating factors before considering any suspension.
The Supreme Court said the choice between reduction and suspension depends on the circumstances of each case. It said the point was not a central part of his case in the Court of Appeal and was not clearly raised in his grounds of appeal.
The court was not persuaded that the point was one of general public importance, and it found no other basis for leave. It refused the application.