McAuley to serve 2 more years for assaulting wife

Convicted Garda killer Pearse McAuley, who used a steak knife to seriously assault his wife for almost four hours while their kids were at home has had his jail term increased following an appeal by prosecutors.

McAuley (50) with an address in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan, had pleaded guilty to seriously assaulting and falsely imprisoning his estranged wife Pauline Tully as well as other related offences committed at the home they previously shared in Kilnaleck, Co Cavan on Christmas Eve 2014.

He was sentenced at Cavan Circuit Criminal Court to 12 years imprisonment with the final 4 suspended by Judge John Aylmer on December 2, 2015.

But the Court of Appeal found McAuley's eight year jail term to be “unduly lenient” following an application for review of sentence by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The three-judge court accordingly resentenced him to 12 years imprisonment with the final two suspended.

President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice Seán Ryan, said the headline sentence of 12 years seemed “modest” in view of the “quite horrifying circumstances of his case” but the DPP had not taken issue with the headline sentence.

Rather, the DPP's barrister, Monica Lawlor BL, submitted that the effective sentence or jail term of eight years was too lenient.

 

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