Garda given suspended sentence for assaulting two women in row over lift in a car
A garda convicted of assaulting two women in a row over a lift in a car has been given a six-month suspended sentence.
Brian Hanrahan (aged 34) of Ballintotty, Nenagh, Co Tipperary, was convicted earlier this year of two offences of assault causing harm. He 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 today, Judge Elizabeth MacGrath said the assault on one of the women, Eimear Kelly, was “a serious assault” while another woman who was assaulted, Aisling King, had acted as a “good Samaritan” when trying to help her friend.
She imposed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, for the assault on Emer Kelly, and a three-month sentence, suspended for a year, for the assault on Aisling King.
Sentencing had been adjourned in February to allow for the preparation of probation and psychological reports relating to Hanrahan.
Mr Hanrahan was in the news in 2015 when he was shot in the back and leg when he was mugged 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.
There was no comment from Mr Hanrahan or his solicitor Daniel O’Gorman after the court hearing.
