A Cavan barrister says that appeals by the Director of Public Prosecution are usually quite successful
22 year old Cathal Crotty, a member of the Defence Forces, was handed a three year suspended sentence for assaulting Natasha O'Brien on O'Connell Street in May 2022.
When asked by the Irish Independent if she would be hopeful of an appeal by the DPP, she said sentences like the one handed down are not unusual, and she wasn't hopeful.
Speaking on the Joe Finnegan Show this morning, Seamus Clarke, Senior Counsel and member of the Bar Council of Ireland and Bailieborough Native, remarked that appeals by accused or affected persons have a much lower success rate.
"The appeals by the Director are some of the most successful types of appeals to the court of appeal when she brings one under undue leniency. In the last records from the annual report in 2022 shows she was succesful in 31 out of 38 cases that she brought and its a fairly similar picture going back a number of years before. This is because the Director is very careful with the types of appeals she brings. That would not be the same for accused persons, thjeir success rate would be much lower".
