Violent criminal who repeatedly punched and then kicked his pregnant partner has sentence doubled

A violent criminal who was jailed for nine months for repeatedly punching his pregnant partner during a protracted attack in her home has had his jail time doubled by the Court of Appeal.

In January, Sligo Circuit Criminal Court heard that Jason Doyle (28), who has 86 previous convictions including those for domestic violence, had been charged with four counts of assaulting his then partner, Karen Maguire, causing her harm at their home on January 10, 2021.

At that hearing, Leo Mulrooney BL, prosecuting, told Judge Keenan Johnson the accused had pleaded guilty to one count of assault causing harm on a full-facts basis, where all the details of the offences are heard.

Doyle, of Tower Hill, Ballymote, Co Sligo, received a two-year sentence but with the final 15 months suspended in order to encourage his rehabilitation for addiction and anger issues.

However, the State successfully appealed the sentence, claiming that it had been unduly lenient.

The lower court heard that on the night Doyle was intoxicated and hit Ms Maguire across the top of the head with a closed right fist.

Doyle was wearing a gold ring on his middle finger which caused Ms Maguire to bleed from her head.

Doyle followed her into the kitchen and then slapped her, causing bruising to her jaw-line. Ms Maguire said the assaults all occurred between midnight and the early hours on January 10, 2021.

At one stage, she went into the bathroom to ring a friend but Doyle came into the bathroom and punched her, connecting with the left side of her head near her eye.

Later the same night, while in the bedroom he punched her on the back of her left arm, the back of the head and kicked her right leg.

The court heard that Doyle had 86 previous convictions which included assault, robbery, criminal damage and domestic violence.

In her judgement today, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said the three-judge court would double Doyle's jail-time to 18 months.

Ms Justice Kennedy said that credit was due to Doyle for his expression of remorse but that his guilty plea was a late one entered on the day of the trial.

Ms Justice Kennedy said that the court would uphold the headline sentence of three years but found that the lower court erred in applying an "excessive" discount for mitigation and for suspending 15 months of the two-year sentence.

The judge said that the sentence amounted to a "substantial departure from the norm" and that it was an error in principle.  

Ms Justice Kennedy said the Court of Appeal would quash the original sentence and substitute a headline sentence of three years but with nine months discounted for Doyle's guilty plea. The court suspended nine months of that sentence, leaving 18 months jail time to serve.