RIP Laura Buckley Noonan
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06 Sept 2025
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06 Sept 2025
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The Court of Appeal has overturned the fully suspended sentence handed down to former soldier Cathal Crotty and jailed him for two years for assaulting a woman in a random attack.
Crotty, with an address at Parkroe Heights, Ardnacrusha, Co Clare, pleaded guilty to assaulting Natasha O’Brien in Limerick in 2022.
Crotty had walked free from court after being given a three-year suspended sentence for the attack in a case that prompted protests across Ireland and put pressure on the Irish Government to tackle violence against women.
Crotty was discharged from the Defence Forces in July last year.
The sentence handed down sparked nationwide protests and TDs on all sides of the House gave her a standing ovation when she appeared in the Dail in June.
On Thursday, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said the sentencing judge gave undue weight to mitigating factors in the case.
He was sentenced to three years in prison, with the final 12 months suspended.
He will also pay Ms O’Brien 3,000 euro in compensation.
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