Lehane family shock at ‘leniency’ of fully suspended sentence
prepared us for what we saw. We sat by his bedside, day by day and watched the suffering and pain that had been caused to our dad. Day by day, we waited, we hoped, we prayed for any small improvement,” she said.
“Sadly on November 7, 2016, surrounded by his family, he passed away. We were completely numb – why him? Why us? There are no words to describe how we are feeling. We would never want any other family to go through what we have endured over the last two and a half years.
“We have lost a husband, a father, a grandfather and a friend in the most traumatic and distressing manner – tormented by the unanswered questions that we will have to carry with us for the rest of our lives.
“I was 10 weeks pregnant on the day of the accident. We hadn’t told anyone and I had to tell my dad that he had another grandchild on the way as he lay in a coma,” said Ms Lehane, adding that their mother, Josie had been “a rock” to her and her three siblings.
“Our dad was a fun loving character and took each day as it came. He had great faith which we hope gave him hope in his final days. He was not a violent or aggressive man,” said Ms Lehane, adding that having to sit through the trial and watch the CCTV had been hugely distressing for them.
“The road to justice has been a long painful, heartbreaking journey in which they are no winners and in our case no answers,” said Ms Lehane, adding that the family was saddened by to the attention of An Garda Siochána and he similarly had not come to their attention since this incident.
She said that Mr O’Sullivan had offered to meet the Lehane family to express his remorse that morning but they had understandably declined and she pointed out that he had been going for counselling for depression as he felt a huge shame over what he had done to Mr Lehane.
Judge Ó Donnabháin noted the Lehane family’s Victim Impact Statement but said he disagreed with one aspect of it, in that having watched Mr O’Sullivan during the trial, he had no doubt that he was genuinely remorseful for his action in punching Mr Lehane on the night.
“I have to disagree with the view that the defendant showed no remorse. I do believe that the remorse shown by O’Sullivan was genuine,” said Judge Ó Donnabháin, adding that he believed the jury were “100pc correct” to return a verdict of manslaughter rather than the lesser charge of assault.
“The verdict, rather than the sentence, is the important thing in this case. It is the verdict of 12 objective people as to what happened,” he said before going on to look at the nature of the single fatal blow which led to Mr Lehane’s death.
He said the blow in itself was not particularly severe but it was very sudden and it was the lack of a build-up which resulted in Mr Lehane not getting a chance to prepare himself for the blow which was entirely unprovoked and resulted in him being knocked back so that he struck his head off the ground.
“He was uptumbled, struck his head and died a short period later. It is the suddenness rather than the seriousness which caused the ultimate tumbling over and the injury,” he said, noting that the medical evidence showed Mr Lehane’s injuries were all at the back of his head resulting from the fall.
Commending the jury on the correctness of their verdict, he pointed out that manslaughter as an offence can cover a variety of incidents, ranging from just above accidental at one end to just below murder at the other end.
As a result there was a huge range of penalties available for manslaughter and he believed that in this case, in all the circumstances and in the interest of a public deterrence, a fully suspended sentence was appropriate and he imposed the three year suspended term on O’Sullivan who broke down in tears.