A son and daughter of prominent publican Charlie Chawke have been sentenced today after they pleaded guilty to assaulting two men at a prestigious hotel in Adare, Co Limerick, three years ago.
Bill and Alison Chawke will both serve at least one year in prison for attacking two innocent victims without provocation at the Dunraven Arms Hotel on November 9th, 2023.
Bill Chawke (31) of Merrion Street Upper, Dublin 2, was sentenced to two years and six months for the assault, with the final 12 months suspended.
Alison Chawke (41) of The Beeches, Holywell, Goatstown, Dublin 14, was sentenced to two years and two months, with the final 14 months suspended.
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The two siblings looked stunned as the sentence was imposed by Judge Fiona O’Sullivan, who said Bill Chawke had been the main aggressor but that his sister who initially tried to get her brother to calm down, later become involved in what was a sustained and vicious assault.
The judge noted payments of €5,000 had been made to the two attacked men as expressions of remorse, and that civil proceedings taken by them against the siblings had been resolved.
During the assault Alison Chawke bit one of the men, John McHugh (50s), on his cheek and kicked him in the head, as her brother wrestled with McHugh on the floor of the hotel.
The Chawke siblings were intoxicated on the night, having consumed about 14 alcoholic drinks between them, and also attacked McHugh’s friend, Gerard Cox (50s), Limerick Circuit Court heard earlier this year.
On Tuesday, the two siblings stood in the dock facing the judge with their hands held in front of them as they awaited the judge’s decision.
Bill Chawke, dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and blue tie, was the first to be sentenced, and his sister, dressed in a black top and black pants, turned to look at him when the judge was finished, appearing stunned and unsure as to what had been said. No words were exchanged.
The judge then delivered her decision in relation to Alison Chawke and, after some clarification from the judge, the two members of the famous business family were led away.
In delivering the sentences, the judge considered the “severity” of the assault, the injuries suffered, the sustained nature of the assault – which began in the bar and moved to the hotel lobby – and the fact both victims have been left with feelings of anxiety in social situations and other effects.
She noted Bill Chawke was a married man who played an important role in a business that employed more than 450 people, that he had apologised and pleaded guilty, and had no previous convictions.
The judge noted that Alison Chawke had also apologised and entered a guilty plea, and had no previous convictions. The judge said she was less culpable than her brother and had at one stage asked her brother to calm down.
Alison Chawke was a working mother with young children who, as with her brother, had had to suffer the “hardship” associated with the extensive media coverage of the case, the judge said.
She said she had considered a report submitted by the psychotherapist Alison Chawke attended while arriving at her sentence.
Limerick Circuit Criminal Court heard the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions had initially indicated that the offences should be dealt with at District Court level but that that court had refused jurisdiction.
Bill Chawke’s sentence involved a headline sentence of 3½ years, reduced by a year when mitigating factors were taken into account. Alison Chawke’s sentence involved a headline sentence of three years and two months, reduced by 14 months when mitigating factors were considered.
Both had their final sentence suspended by 12 and 14 months respectively.
Previously, the court heard that both defendants played important roles within the family’s pub business and their convictions had brought embarrassment on the Chawke family and the family-run business.
Prosecuting barrister Lily Buckley told a sitting of the court earlier this year that Bill and Alison Chawke had incorrectly perceived, in their intoxication, that Cox and McHugh were staring and smirking at them at the hotel bar. The assaults were captured on a mobile phone camera as well as the hotel’s CCTV system and the footage was played in court.
The footage showed the Chawke siblings throwing kicks and punches at the two men inside the bar and at the hotel lobby in the early hours of the morning.
The Chawke group has nine pubs, including: Searsons, Baggot Street; the Goat, Goatstown Cross; the Dropping Well, Rathmines; and the Bank, on College Green, all in Dublin; and Bill Chawke’s and Aunty Lena’s, in Adare, Co Limerick, as well as four Fired Up pizza outlets.
