The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will today go to the Court of Criminal Appeal to appeal the leniency of a four-year sentence on Wayne O'Donoghue for the manslaughter of 11-year-old Midleton schoolboy Robert Holohan.
O'Donoghue (21) was sentenced earlier this year by Mr Justice Paul Carney for the manslaughter on January 4th, 2005 of Robert Holohan whose body was found dumped at Inch Strand near Midleton, Co Cork, on January 12th, 2005.
He had been acquitted of the murder of the Midleton schoolboy following a 10-day trial at a Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork in November and December 2005 which heard evidence of how Robert had died from asphyxia due to strangulation. O'Donoghue had pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Robert at the outset of his trial and after he was acquitted of the murder, he was remanded in custody by Mr Justice Carney for sentence.
O'Donoghue did not take the stand during his trial but in statements made to investigating gardaí, he said that he had accidentally killed Robert in a row over the youngster throwing stones at his car.
During the sentencing hearing in Ennis on January 24th, 2006, Robert's mother, Majella departed from her agreed Victim Impact Statement to ask how semen had ended up on her son's hand as well as a number of other questions about her son's death.
O'Donoghue's solicitor, Frank Buttimer, said the O'Donoghue family believed the four-year sentence was "balanced and fair" and he later said that he was "genuinely surprised" when he learned of the DPP's decision to appeal its leniency.
Majella Holohan, who had written to the DPP asking him to appeal the leniency of the sentence, welcomed the DPP's decision to do so. "Nothing is going to bring Robert back but we've always felt four years was very little for taking the life of a beautiful child," she said.
The Irish Times understands that the DPP is basing his appeal application on six grounds, including a general one that the sentence imposed is too lenient, arguing that it fails to take into account O'Donoghue's concealment of both the killing and Robert's body. The DPP also contends the sentence did not recognise O'Donoghue's attempts to divert the focus of the Garda inquiry away from him.