A garda with a “string of commendations” who was convicted of assaulting two women in a row over a lift in a car has been given a six-month suspended sentence.
Brian Hanrahan (33) of Ballintotty, Nenagh, Co Tipperary, was convicted earlier this year of two offences of assault causing harm. The father-of-two had denied the charges which involved punching and kicking one woman and hitting the other victim.
The assaults occurred when a row broke out over payment for a lift home after a night out in Nenagh.
At a sentencing hearing, Judge Elizabeth MacGrath described the assault on one of the victims, Emer Kelly, who was punched in the jaw and kicked, as “a serious assault” and said that the other victim, Aisling King, had been acting as a “good Samaritan” by coming to her friend’s aid when she was slapped on the face.
Sentencing had been adjourned in February to allow for the preparation of probation and psychological reports relating to Hanrahan. He had no previous convictions.
Hanrahan was in the news in 2015 when he was shot in the back and leg during a botched robbery at an ATM machine during a holiday in New Orleans. He was hospitalised in the United States and underwent emergency surgery before being allowed to return home and eventually back to garda duty.
His solicitor Daniel O’Gorman said Hanrahan was a garda with “a string of commendations,” and an excellent work record and was a “great colleague” and very popular.
Dr O’Keeffe, who carried out a psychological report, said Hanrahan had been left with a sense of “heightened tension” after the 2015 attack in New Orleans, and this was probably what led to what occurred on the night of the offences.
The defendant was left in a “precarious situation” by this court case and it would have ramifications beyond the walls of the courtroom, Mr O’Gorman said. He had admitted that he “shouldn’t have hit the lady” when speaking to Dr O’Keeffe. The solicitor asked for “leniency” and to give Mr Hanrahan time to pay compensation to the victims.
The court heard there were witness expenses totalling €1,206.10, including €510 for dental treatment needed by Emer Kelly as a result of being punched in the face.
Judge MacGrath said she had ordered a psychological report because of the serious incident suffered by Hanrahan in New Orleans and it came to her mind that he might have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
However, Dr O’Keeffe’s report noted that the defendant wasn’t suffering from PTSD, before the assaults in Nenagh.
“The assault, in particular on Ms Kelly, was a serious assault on the night in question,” the Judge said. “Mr Hanrahan, with his background, ought to have been able to deal with that matter,” she said. “These matters are deserving of a custodial sentence.”
She decided that in view of the matters outlined by Mr O’Gorman, and the fact Hanrahan had no previous convictions, she would suspend the prison sentences.
She imposed a six-month sentence, suspended for two years, for the assault on Emer Kelly and a concurrent three-month sentence, suspended for a year, for the assault on Aisling King.
Recognaisances in the event of an appeal were fixed at the defendant’s own bond of €1,000 in each case. There was no comment afterwards from his solicitor on whether or not there will be an appeal.
After the court case, Emer Kelly’s mother Pauline and Aisling King mother Angela thanked the gardaí and legal team who mounted the case against Hanrahan.
Pauline Kelly said the last 12 months had been “horrific” for the victims. She also thanked a local man, Eddie Ryan, who came on the scene when Hanrahan was assaulting her daughter.
Mr Ryan, a security man, gave evidence on an earlier date of driving in the area when he saw one of the girls caught by the hair on the roadside.
Angela King said: “The girls are very upset. Obviously they are never going to get over what happened to them. They want it over and done with and we hope it won’t drag on now with an appeal. It will affect them for longer and we just want it over and done with. We are hoping this is the end of it. He is a six foot guy and no way should a man hit a woman like that.”