Criminal defence solicitor Cahir O’Higgins has been sentenced to 27 months in prison. The sentence will date from October 21st of this year when he went into custody. With good behaviour, he is likely to be released by April 2026.
At his trial, O’Higgins (49) pleaded not guilty to one count of the theft of €400 in July 2016 and four counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice in December 2017 by providing notes to gardaí which he knew contained incorrect information.
O’Higgins, of Cahir O’Higgins and Company, Kingsbride House, Parkgate Street, Dublin, denied the allegations against him. During his trial, the court heard that O’Higgins is a criminal defence solicitor with over 20 years’ experience.
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The jury returned unanimous verdicts of guilty on all five counts after just under five hours of deliberations.
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O’Higgins, one of the most successful criminal defence solicitors in the country, was previously sentenced to 16 months in relation to a prolonged campaign of harassment against a former employee who left his firm to set up his own practice, culminating in O’Higgins breaking the man’s nose.
O’Higgins’ actions were variously referred to by the sentencing judge as “deranged”, “thuggish”, “base” and “despicable”.
Earlier this year, O’Higgins pleaded guilty to one count of assault causing harm to fellow solicitor Stephen O’Mahony and to one count of harassing him over a period of time between June 25th, 2020 and February 11th, 2021.
Two further counts of simple assault of Mr O’Mahony at the Criminal Courts of Justice (CCJ) in Parkgate Street, Dublin 7, on dates in December 2020 and January 2021 were taken into consideration.
He was jailed and had been due out in September next year with good behaviour. The two sentences will now run concurrently.
O’Higgins also has a public order conviction in relation to a cycle rage incident involving two plainclothes gardaí.
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