This article is from page 13 of the 2009-03-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
A TWO-MONTH jail term imposed on former doctor Paschal Carmody for an assault was lifted yesterday.
Mr Carmody (61), of Ballycug- geran, Killaloe, was convicted of assaulting summons server John Sommers at Mr Carmody’s home on March 8, 2007.
A two-month jail term had been handed down at Killaloe District Court in November.
Mr Carmody appealed the sever- ity of this sentence, at Ennis Circuit STAM Ko Kee hs
His solicitor Michael Staines told the court that his client, a father- of-five, had practised as a doctor in Killaloe for many years. However, he said he had been struck off, “due to other matters, nothing to do with this case”.
Garda John Kennedy agreed with Mr Staines that it was very unlikely that Mr Carmody would ever be in
this type of trouble again.
Mr Staines said his client had been under “unprecedented pressure from the media” around the time of the as- sault. “It was a spur-of-the-moment thing,” he said.
He presented two references to the court, one from County Councillor Flan Garvey and the other from a doctor in Tipperary, on behalf of his client.
“Mr Carmody unreservedly apolo- gises for what occurred. Mr Sum- mers accepts this. The injuries, thankfully, were minor. He has other problems, which he is still facing. I’d ask you to take this problem away from him,” said the solicitor.
Judge Gerald Keyes asked was the case contested in the district court and was told that it was.
“It was a very severe penalty whether it was contested or not, for a man who had never been in trouble before. He’s still under a lot of pres- sure,’ said the solicitor.
“If you could see fit to deal with it perhaps by contributing to the poor box, he’d be delighted to do that,” he added.
He said that this matter would have a huge effect on his client in the event of him practising in the future, once other issues are dealt with.
Judge Keyes noted that the garda had spoken positively about Mr Car- mody. “I have no hesitation in re- moving the jail sentence,” he said.
“Obviously this man has been un- der terrible pressure, but no more than any member of the public as such. There is strong evidence this man will not commit an offence again,” he added.
“We are all entitled to make mis- takes and the consequences are more Severe for this man than others,” said the judge.
He applied the probation act and said if Mr Carmody wished to do- nate money to the poor box, he could do so.