A man, now aged 24, who repeatedly assaulted and coercively controlled his teenage girlfriend — including punching her for “liking” a TikTok video — will return to prison after the Court of Appeal tripled his original sentence.
Gavin Lawlor continued attacking his 18-yr-old victim even after being released on bail for an earlier assault, with the court hearing that he punched and slapped her, locked her in a room on one occasion, removed her phone SIM card to prevent contact with her parents, and monitored her movements, reports Breaking News.
Lawlor, formerly of Pairc Cluain in Mulgannon, Wexford, pleaded guilty in June 2024 to eight counts of assault causing harm and one count of coercive and controlling behaviour between March 2021 and March 2022.
In April 2025, Judge James McCourt at Wexford Circuit Court sentenced him to two years in prison, suspending the final 12 months. Each offence carried a maximum penalty of five years, reports Breaking News.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) sought a review of the sentence, arguing it was unduly lenient.
At the appeal hearing in March, Ed O’Mahony BL, representing the DPP, argued that the judge had not given enough weight to aggravating factors, including that the offences occurred within an intimate relationship and that the second set of offences took place while Lawlor was on bail, reports Breaking News.
A three-judge Court of Appeal agreed, overturning the original sentence and imposing a new term of four years in prison, with the final 12 months suspended. The court also ordered Lawlor to pay €2,000 to the victim, representing money transferred from her account.
Delivering the judgment on Tuesday, Ms Justice Tara Burns said the court had taken into account the repeated nature of the offences and the escalation in seriousness, particularly within an intimate relationship, reports Breaking News.
She noted that in one incident Lawlor grabbed the victim by the neck and warned her that if she kissed anyone else again, he would break her legs.
Coercive control
Explaining the background to the coercive control charge, the judge said that between March and September 2021 Lawlor persistently checked the victim’s phone, instructed her to block male friends, removed her SIM card to prevent contact with her parents, told her she could not go home, and monitored her movements, reports Breaking News.
He also persuaded the victim to transfer €2,200 to his account for the purchase of a mobile home, of which only €200 was ever repaid.
After the victim first made a complaint to gardaí in September 2021, the couple resumed their relationship, but she was assaulted again by Lawlor just three days after moving back in with him, reports Breaking News.
In a later incident, Lawlor struck the victim in the face with a closed fist after discovering she had “liked” a video on TikTok, Ms Justice Burns said.
The judge said it was “particularly concerning” that after initially being reported to gardaí and charged, Lawlor resumed offending immediately upon rekindling the relationship, reports Breaking News.
Ms Justice Burns said the original three-year headline sentence for the second set of charges — aggravated by being committed while on bail — failed to reflect the seriousness of the crimes.
She said the sentencing judge had “clearly erred” in applying concurrent sentences to both sets of offences, reports Breaking News.
The judge emphasised that offences committed while on bail must be served consecutively and are considered an aggravating factor under the law.
These errors resulted in a sentence that was a “substantial departure from the norm” and therefore unduly lenient, Ms Justice Burns said, reports Breaking News.
She set new headline sentences of three years for the first set of offences and three and a half years for the second, reducing each by 12 months for mitigation and ordering them to run consecutively.
She then reduced each sentence by a further three months to reflect the principle of totality, resulting in an overall sentence of four years, backdated to when Lawlor first entered custody, reports Breaking News.
Taking into account a positive probation report and Lawlor’s consistent participation in rehabilitation programmes, the court decided to suspend the final 12 months of the sentence.
The original sentencing hearing heard that the victim first reported the abuse to gardaí in September 2021 but resumed the relationship in December, before making another complaint in April the following year, reports Breaking News.
Across her statements, she described multiple assaults including punches and slaps to the head and face, threats, and verbal abuse.
On one occasion Lawlor locked her in a room, and in another he punched her in the left eye and struck her repeatedly on the back, causing bruising, reports Breaking News.
In a separate incident, he began assaulting her in a pub and continued when they returned home.
Lawlor was 20 years old when the offences began, while the victim had just turned 18, reports Breaking News.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can contact Women’s Aid (24-hour freephone helpline at 1800-341 900, email [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])) or Men’s Aid Ireland (confidential helpline at 01-554 3811, email [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])) for support and information.
Safe Ireland also offers a number of local services and helplines at safeireland.ie/get-help/where-to-find-help/. In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.
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