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AN INMATE WHO repeatedly punched the governor of Cloverhill Prison during a vicious assault has been given a three-month sentence with the final two months suspended.
Brendan Cummins, 22, of Lios Dubh, Armagh Road, Dundalk, Co Louth, has 10 previous assault convictions and was not due to be released from his current sentence until the end of September at the earliest, meaning he will serve no extra jail time for the attack.
He had pleaded guilty to assaulting governor Ronan Maher at Cloverhill Prison on 20 February.
Detective Sergeant Sean Cosgrove told Cloverhill District Court on Tuesday that the governor had gone to D-Wing’s yard to speak to a prisoner.
The accused started shouting at him and punched him in the face three times, the court was told.
The case was adjourned until today for a victim impact statement and evidence of previous convictions to be given and for mitigation pleas to be heard.
Courtroom security was heightened for the resumption of the proceedings. The accused was flanked by five prison officers in full riot gear and holding shields during the sentence hearing.
On Tuesday, the prisoner had interjected when he thought the case may be adjourned for a week and he shouted: “I will not be coming back to court in a week, deal with it now.”
However, he sat calmly and did not address the court during the hearing today.
Mr Maher came to court to give the victim impact statement and told Judge Kathryn Hutton: “Emotionally, I was not affected at all. It is part of the job, it comes with the territory but I still suffer pain in my neck”.
He said he gets twinges of pain if he moves his neck too much to one side.
Detective Sergeant Cosgrove told the court that Cummins has 15 prior criminal convictions in total.
He said that 10 of his recorded convictions were for assault, three for minor Section Two assault offences but seven for Section Three assault causing harm charges. He had one conviction for possession of an offensive weapon as well as another for burglary and a public order offence, the court was told.
In July, he was given a four-month sentence for assault causing harm. However, Detective Sergeant Cosgrove said, the sentence will expire in November and that Cummins’ earliest possible release date is 30 September.
In February 2014, he was given a three-year sentence by a circuit court for assault causing harm but that term has expired.
Defence solicitor Yvonne Bambury told the court her client had been on 23-hour “lock up” and was “subject to a difficult stressful regime”. He was getting about one hour of exercise a day.
She said he found it extraordinary difficult coping with solitary confinement. As a result of the attack he suffered a loss of certain privileges including phone calls and access to the shop, the solicitor said.
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Great message to be sending out, another BS excuse and granted by the courts.
Ffs… society doesn’t stand a chance! How the duck do we fix this system?
‘Stressful time’, lol
@stephen kavanagh: wonder what you get for slapping a judge?? I’ll use the excuse it was to slap some cop on into them. Hmmm
@Sean Murphy: I wish we could put it to the test!
Beggars belief
Farsical
Suppose tax payer paying Solicitor
Ahh bless…..I’m glad he didn’t have to sweat for a week before hearing that sentence. It takes police in riot gear to bring this toad to court but the rest of us can cope when he gets out in September. You just couldn’t write a script as ludicrous as this
@Mary Murphy: thats prison officers….not police.
This guy is obviously a head the ball so even after assaulting a prison wardon he doesn’t get punished so he’ll be free to roam th streets in a few weeks. The Garda will keep an eye on him for a while when he gets out but he will most likely go under the radar along the way a pop up in some rural community somewhere for doing God knows what. It will then be everyone’s else’s fault but his. His solicitor will argue.
Well done Judiciary… sending out a clear message to offenders. Jesus, just how out of touch these privileged, connected lawmakers are.
Well why is he in solitary confinement? If he has go to court with five prison officers decked out in full riot gear I reckon I know why he is in solitary! Joke of a judgement and you’d imagine it might put the governor and prison officers at the risk of further attacks since there are no repercussions!!
I wonder if Judge Kathryn Hutton had been punched repeatedly today would she have given a ‘Suspended Sentence’?
I seriously doubt it but she doesn’t give a s**t about non court personnel.
I’ve said it before the ONLY ‘Suspended Sentence’ should be hanging!!
What a joke. The justice system in this country is broken.
Looking forward to this Tosser getting out.
@Cathal: sterilisation on release day
@john g mcgrath: lethal injection would be the better option!
Honestly, is anyone surprised at this sentence. Our judiciary must be without doubt the weakest in the Western world when it comes to criminal sentencing. Anywhere else he would be starting several extra years to run consecutively to his current sentence for this assault. We have mandatory minimum sentences for possession of X amount of Narcotics that is rarely handed down, Murder charges are reduced to Manslaughter, Rape can carry a life sentence but when was the last time anyone received a life sentence for it? Criminals with multiple violence related convictions get suspended and or concurrent sentences so that if they are currently doing time it doesn’t add to it. And politicians will ring their hands and say it’s terrible but do nothing about it.
@Mick Jordan: ahhh give it a rest will you you are clearly a POA mouthpiece that will go on about the hard job you have let’s face it as been you will whinge and cry about your job yet refuse to accept that you knew the job you were going into when you joined up so be a man not a mouse
@anthony: Would you go away and take a dose of salts. It might stop the Bulls..t running
@anthony: Governors are not members of the POA but are in a different union for Senior Civil Servants. And what I do is explain to the public what the Job of a Prison Officer is like. Why? Because 99.99% of normal decent hard working people will never see the inside of a Prison nor the working environment there in. They see what the Gardai do and the risks they take, likewise Fire Fighters and Medical Staff. Prison Staff on the other hand are generally hidden from view. And only in rare cases do the public get a glimpse of what Prison Staff endure every working day. As for refusing to accept what the Job entailed when I joined. Can you point to one instance of that? Please do.
Oh losing access to the shop, the fat mess! Someone phone amnesty international and someone please… THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS, why was losing the shop access the main point of the story. The horror of it all!
its probably more of a punishment for someone like him to be released from the easy life and luxuries of an Irish prison to life on the outside! hats off to the members of the prison service considering the shite they put up with!
The last paragraph is great. Imagine assaulting the warden and being punished! Hope got call privlages back dude! !
No wonder the country is in such a state and these thugs have no fear .
There is no rehabilitating this fella. He is beyond that. He behaves like an animal and his 10 previous assault convictions suggest he has behaved like this for years. Our Criminal Justice System has failed us again and the big loser is going to be some innocent person on a street somewhere down the line who gets the $hit beaten out if them by this animal. He is clearly a threat to other people and belongs in a cage
I blame brexit
Great deterrent
Ah boo hoo, he gets one hours exercise a day. Why are the judges afraid to hand out harse sentences?
Of course he hasn’t. Joke but hey, 0 people are surprised. Moving on
Folks. This young man, our member of the next generation wishes to become Ireland’s answer to Britain’s Charles Bronson…Read into it what you will.
What a joke
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