Jockey avoids jail for child cruelty over attack on daughter he beat with pipe

A jockey working at the renowned Ballydoyle stud farm of leading horse owner, John Magnier, has received a suspended jail sentence for an assault on his teenage daughter 14 years ago.

Lorcan Donnelly (52) of Marlfield Avenue, Clonmel, Co Tipperary pleaded guilty to a number of offences including cruelty to a child in relation to a single incident at his then family home in Redcross, Co Wicklow on April 27, 2010.

Donnelly, a former horse trainer and father of five who comes originally from Gorey, Co Wexford, also pleaded guilty to separate charges of assault causing harm and production of an article capable of inflicting serious injury on the same date.

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A sitting of Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court heard Donnelly had beaten his young daughter, who was aged 13 at the time, with a piece of plastic pipe in anger at being called to her school earlier that day over an alleged theft.

A retired garda, Ger O’Donovan, gave evidence that the accused’s daughter had reported the incident in July 2020 to police in the UK where she was living at the time which resulted in a Garda investigation being initiated into the matter in February 2021.

At the time of the offences, Mr O’Donovan said the girl had moved from living in England with her mother to reside with her father and his then partner and her children in Wicklow. The witness said there was trouble in the girl’s school over an alleged theft from a locker and Donnelly was “very angry and physically aggressive” about the matter which had also involved gardaí.

“He was annoyed because he had to attend the school,” the witness added. Mr O’Donovan said that when they got home the accused got his daughter to lower down her pants and bend over before repeatedly hitting her with a plastic pipe.

The court heard that the girl was screaming and shouting during what she claimed was a beating which continued for up to 10 minutes until it stopped after her father’s partner came into the room and grabbed the pipe off him. Mr O’Donovan said the victim had told him that she had defecated on the floor over what had happened, while skin had been ripped off her buttock. She claimed she was kept off school for a few days because of her injuries.

The court heard the girl had blood on her upper thigh and some blistered welts as well as a bloodshot eye. In a victim impact statement, the woman said her eye was never going to be the same again after the incident as it was “damaged for life.”

However, the court heard that medical evidence did not support claims that injuries to her eye including a detached retina were as a result of the assault. She claimed she had flashbacks about the assault “every time I look in the mirror.”

The victim said she had cried every night over the incident and would never forget what happened “because he thought I stole something and I never did.” She stated she would have killed herself if her father had not admitted to the offence but she thanked him for “eventually telling the truth” which she acknowledged would have been hard for him to do.

When interviewed by gardaí, Mr O’Donovan said Donnelly, who had no prior convictions, admitted he had given his daughter a few slaps and used the plastic pipe to hit her but disputed the injuries. Cross-examined by defence counsel, John O’Dwyer BL, he acknowledged that Donnelly had written a letter of apology to his daughter which she “fully accepted.”

The accused’s new partner, Tracey Begley, with whom he has four young children, gave evidence that he was a “very loving” family man and “a good provider.” While she had been aware of the incident with his daughter for many years, Ms Begley said she never experienced any violent inclination on the part of her partner.

Ms Begley said she had also discussed the incident with the victim as she used to regularly visit her father up until 2019. The witness said Donnelly had insisted to her that he had only hit his daughter three slaps during the incident and she was shocked when gardaí called to their home about the assault.

Judge Terence O’Sullivan said he accepted that any injury to the victim’s eye was unintentional and that Donnelly had shown contrition for his offending. The judge acknowledged that the accused was assessed as being at a low risk of reoffending and had “a strong work ethic.”

He observed that Donnelly had assaulted and mistreated his daughter in a “humiliating experience which was utterly unjustified.” The judge said it was unacceptable behaviour as the defendant had breached the girl’s trust. He remarked that Donnelly must be “utterly ashamed” at doing such a strange thing to his own child.

Judge O’Sullivan also observed that the law had changed radically since the date of the offence following the prohibition on corporal punishment in 2015. However, he accepted that Donnelly’s behaviour during the incident in 2010 was “out of character.”

Sentencing the accused to three years in prison on each of the three charges to run concurrently, the judge suspended the entire custodial sentence for a period of three years on condition that the accused is bound to keep the peace.

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