Appeal on 'leniency' of McAuley sentence to begin tomorrow
An appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) against the “undue leniency” of a 12-year sentence handed down to prominent Republican Pearse McAuley for an attack on his estranged wife at their Cavan home in Christmas 2014 is to begin tomorrow (Monday), November 7.
To be heard before Justice Sean Ryan, Justice Alan Mahon, and Justice John A. Edwards, the hearing is scheduled for Court 22 of the Central Criminal Courts of Justice.
It is one of two so-called “Undue Leniency Applications” taken by the DPP on that date.
McAuley (50) was sentenced to serve 12-years’ imprisonment, with four-years suspended, by Judge John Aylmer at a sitting of Cavan Circuit Court late last year.
One of the convicted IRA killers of Detective Garda Gerry McCabe, McAuley pleaded guilty to a sustained knife attack on his estranged wife and Sinn Féin local councillor Pauline Tully at their family home in Kilnaleck in Christmas 2014.
Originally from Strabane, but with an address in Ballyconnell, McAuley stabbed Ms Tully 13 times and broke four of her fingers in what was described as a frenzied attack.
McAuley also faced a series of other charges, for which he was also sentenced, with all terms of imprisonment to run concurrently. They included three years’ imprisonment for the production of a knife in the course of a dispute at Kilderry, Kilnaleck, Cavan, on December 24, 2014, six years for the false imprisonment of Ms Tully and four years for threatening to kill Ms Tully’s brother Tommy.
The eight-year sentence for the serious assault causing harm to Ms Tully was back-dated to December 27, 2014, from when McAuley was first taken into custody.
In fear
Reports at the time suggested that with good behaviour taken into account, McAuley could be released from prison as early as 2020.
Ms Tully had told the court that she would now spend the rest of her life in fear as a result of the attack, and it had had an horrific effect on her two children who were in the home during the incident.
McAuley was previously released from prison in 2009 having served 10 of a 14-year setence for the killing of Gda McCabe during the attempted robbery of a post office van in Adare, Co Limerick, in June 1996.