Sentenced for 'unprovoked and random' assaults in Athlone

A 52-year-old Cork resident has been jailed for 17 months for a series of "unprovoked and random" daytime assaults in Athlone earlier this year.

Tim Dennehy, with an address of Glanmore, Ballyhea, Charleville, Cork, was sentenced during last Wednesday's sitting of Athlone District Court.

During previous hearings, the court was told that Mr Dennehy had been charged with six counts of assault, five of which involved female victims, in Athlone over the course of a few hours on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. Five of the six charges, all but one of which were perpetrated on women Dennehy approached at random in Athlone, had been directed for "summary disposal" which allows them to be finalised at district court level.

The first of those, the court previously heard, happened just after 11am when Gardai were called to the Golden Island Shopping Centre with reports of two females having been assaulted a few minutes earlier.

The court was told Dennehy had "barged into" both women as they were engaged in conversation on a footpath just outside the shopping centre.

It was revealed how, during that incident, a 38-year-old woman was punched in the eye, leaving her with bruising and swelling to her jaw. The woman required medical attention and continued to suffer from anxiety in the wake of the attack.

Mr Dennehy was then seen enter Wildhunter, an outdoor hunting supplies store, a few moments later, where he proceeded to ask a shop assistant for a "gun and a bullet" - a request which was quickly turned down.

As the defendant left the store, he "shouldered" a man who had been walking into the store at the time.

Garda Breda Fahy told a previous hearing that, while Gardai were searching for the defendant, they were alerted to another incident involving a woman who had been walking along the town's Abbey Road area to collect her grandchild from a nearby creche.

The court heard how the woman had been attacked by an "unknown male" who punched her into the eye, "causing multiple fractures to her facial bones", and that this had left her requiring reconstructive surgery.

A short time later, Gardaí received a report of a further attack on a young woman whom he had kicked as she was walking on Northgate Street in the town.

Last week, two of Mr Dennehy’s victims were in court in Athlone to hear Judge Bernadette Owens read their victim impact statements and deliver her sentencing in relation to all of the offences except for the Abbey Road assault, which had previously been sent forward to be dealt with at Mullingar Circuit Court.

Defence solicitor Mark Cooney referred to the "erratic" nature of his client's actions on the day, and said Mr Dennehy was continuing to battle ongoing psychiatric issues.

He asked the judge to take into account the defendant's pleas of guilty to the charges before the court.

Judge Owens said there was no doubt that all of the assaults in question had been "unprovoked and random" and that there had been "no engagement" between Mr Dennehy and his victims beforehand.

The judge went on to say she was obliged to consider the mitigating factors before the court, which included his guilty pleas and the "very well documented and significant" psychiatric history of the accused.

The judge sentenced the 52-year-old to four months in prison for one of the assaults, backdating its term to the date he first went into custody in April.

An identical four-month sentence was issued for another of the assaults, while a nine-month term was handed down for the "most serious" attack on his 38-year-old victim outside Athlone’s Golden Island Shopping Centre.

Two further assaults were taken into consideration. Recognisance, in the event of an appeal, was set at an independent surety, to be approved by the court, of €5,000.

All sentences were directed to run consecutively, meaning Dennehy now faces a 17-month spell in prison from April of this year. He is due to appear before Mullingar Circuit Court in November in relation to the assault on Abbey Road which left the victim requiring reconstructive facial surgery.