The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is to appeal a six month prison sentence for sexual assault imposed on Dublin businessman Anthony Lyons on the grounds it was unduly lenient.
The family of the victim said it was “horrified” when Judge Desmond Hogan last month suspended 5½ years of a six-year sentence and order Lyons, an aviation tycoon, to pay €75,000 in compensation to the woman he attacked.
The DPP this afternoon lodged papers with the Court of Criminal Appeal to begin the process of appealing the sentence.
Lyons (51), Griffith Avenue, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to the sexual assault of the 27-year- old woman in the early hours of October 3rd, 2010.
He was head of aviation company Santos Dumont before stepping aside after being charged.
He was sentenced and committed to prison on July 30th. With 5½ years suspended, his term of imprisonment is six months.
He rugby tackled his victim to the ground on a tree-line dark section of Griffith Ave and sexually assaulted her.
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