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SINN FÉIN MEP Kathleen Funchion’s ex-partner, who was jailed under Coco’s Law for four months last year, has had his sentence increased on appeal.
Funchion’s former partner Sean Tyrell (39) was given a four-month jail term and a separate four-month suspended sentence under Section 4 of the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020 last April.
He had pleaded guilty to the offences, which relate to August 2022 when Funchion was a sitting TD for the Carlow/Kilkenny constituency.
Following the sentencing, the defendant took a severity-only appeal to Kilkenny Circuit Court.
David Roberts, counsel for the defendant, told Judge Quinn that the probation report, which had been requested at the October sitting, was as “detailed and lengthy a report” as he had seen and that it was not positive towards Tyrrell.
Although it noted his attendance at probation meetings, it set out concerning issues relating to the likelihood of re-offending.
Roberts said that the findings would have been guided by the probation officer’s interactions with Tyrrell, and they must have been of a negative nature, given the findings of the report.
However, he said they were not influenced by previous convictions.
The court was told that Tyrrell was working as a block-layer in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, and that he has been having some challenges in accommodation and is residing with his employer on a must-need basis.
The accused, Roberts noted, had a long history of drug and alcohol abuse which has affected decision-making on various occasions.
Judge Quinn said the appeal had been previously heard on 31 October, and Funchion had reread her victim impact statement.
Judge Quinn said Tyrrell had entered guilty pleas in the District Court relating to offences taking place on four different dates.
He said that his actions had caused huge concern to Funchion’s professional and personal life.
The probation report, he added, was not helpful for Tyrrell’s case, adding, that there had been a breach of trust in his relationship with Funchion.
Judge Quinn said that a custodial sentence was “warranted and inevitable”, increasing the custodial sentence from four months to five months, while also increasing the suspended sentence from four months to five months, suspended for two years in a personal bond of €100.
Speaking to RTÉ News at One after the appeal hearing, Funchion said she feels a “huge sense of relief”.
“I’m actually so relieved. Being dragged back through the appeal process, I found it very difficult. To have the sentence increased today, I really feel a huge sense of relief again, to physically see that he has gone to prison,” she said.
Funchion said her partner’s controlling behaviour was hard to accept as it crept in over time.
“The situation is they make you really doubt yourself. They make you question yourself. They totally affect your confidence and your self-esteem, so that you believe that you’re the person that’s in the wrong,” she said.
“You think, ‘I should be showing you my phone’, or ‘I should be telling you absolutely everything about the details of who I spoke to today’.”
She encouraged other women to seek support and reach out to Women’s Aid or their local refuge if they start seeing signs of abusive behaviour.
“There is absolutely no judgment. You can speak to them hundreds of times, if that’s what it takes for you to realise that you’re in a negative situation and that you need to get out, and they can help you with that,” she said.
The MEP also encouraged other women to seek justice, but acknowledged the lengthy justice process this takes is a “major deterrent to people coming forward”.
“I really hope that this will send a message to other women to not give up and to not lose hope, because it is such a long process,” she said.
“You’ve got many moments in that process where it’s very isolating. It’s very lonely. You doubt and question yourself at times, but there is nothing like the sense of justice you will feel when a judge is saying that this person wronged you and deserves to go to jail for that.”
Contains reporting by Sophie Finn.
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