Jailed bar owner sentenced to six months over unpaid assault compensation - Donegal News

Sean Connaughton gets six months for unpaid compensation order

A MAN already serving a five-year prison sentence for a fatal hit-and-run collision was given six months in jail after failing to pay the balance of a €5,500 compensation order to an assault victim.

Sean Connaughton (54), with an address at Castlerea Prison, had been ordered to pay Lifford man James McGhee following an assault at the Banjo Tavern in Castlefin in 2019. By November 2025, only €1,250 of the order had been paid, leaving €4,250 outstanding.

Letterkenny District Court heard the incident stemmed from a dispute over a horse racing bet placed in the bar earlier that evening. Mr McGhee had won €250 but staff refused to pay out his winnings that evening. Connaughton, the bar owner, was on a night out when he was called back to the premises after staff felt the situation was escalating.

Garda Sergeant Oliver Devaney told the court that a third party had kicked Mr McGhee in the face while he was on the ground causing the major injuries, and that Connaughton had thrown a glass of water over him.

Defending solicitor Frank Dorrian said Mr McGhee had started the row, that betting should not have taken place on a licensed premises, and that it had not been feasible to pay out the winnings that evening. He told the court Mr McGhee had threatened criminal damage to the property and that Connaughton’s response had not been disproportionate to the threat James McGhee posed that evening.

Mr Dorrian said his client had no means to discharge the remaining debt while incarcerated at the start of a five-year sentence, and it was now a matter for the court.

Judge Emile Daly noted Connaughton had defaulted after paying only a quarter of the order. While the maximum sentence for striking Mr McGhee in the face was 12 months, she took into account that Connaughton was not the only person involved in the assault and had no means to pay since his imprisonment.

She sentenced him to six months, to run concurrently with the sentence he is already serving, and struck out the remainder of the compensation order.

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