Being sentenced yet focused on fulfilling his cycling dreams.
Not a Cahir in the world.
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Back on the chain gang.
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That YouTuber fella should be shitting himself
Mike Tyson
Rise and fall of solicitor from well-known political family
COLM KEENA
Cahir OâHiggins, who was jailed for assault in September and was found guilty yesterday of theft from a former client, is the son of former Fine Gael TDs Michael J OâHiggins and Brigid Hogan-OâHiggins, and nephew of the former chief justice Tom OâHiggins.
OâHiggins (49), who grew up in Galway, trained with the well-known criminal law firm Michael Staines before setting up his own practice, Cahir OâHiggins & Co, in 2005. He was one ofthe top earners from the criminal legal aid scheme.
Criminal law practitioners said OâHiggins was known for being unusually focused on getting clients, often going to lengths that were frowned upon by colleagues.
He was the subject of a complaint to the Law Society in 2012 after he appeared to take issue with a client who used the services of another solicitor when making a bail application.
An anonymous fax was sent from an internet cafe in Rathmines to the DPP saying the man had previous convictions.
GardaĂ became involved and CCTV footage showed OâHiggins at the cafe at the time.
The complaint of an alleged breach of client confidentiality, however, did not proceed.
During his years as a successful lawyer, OâHiggins invested in a number of residential properties in Dublin. In more recent years he has appeared to struggle with his practice and with mental health issues, according to lawyers who know him.
In a social media post in September, as he was about to begin his sentence, OâHiggins said: âIâm off to learn a few lessons, write a bit and think about how Iâve lived my life and work at being an expert in kindness⌠for the latter third of my life.â
Grandson of Kevin OâHiggins, first Minister for Justice in the Free State.
OâHiggins previously jailed for breaking lawyerâs nose in attack
Reporting restrictions lifted on case involving top criminal defence solicitor
ISABEL HAYESTop criminal defence solicitor Cahir OâHiggins engaged in a prolonged campaign of harassment against a former employee who left his firm to set up his own practice, culminating in OâHiggins breaking the manâs nose, it can now be reported.
OâHigginsâ actions were variously referred to by the sentencing judge as âderangedâ, âthuggishâ, âbaseâ and âdespicableâ.
Earlier this year, OâHiggins pleaded guilty to one count of assault causing harm to fellow solicitor Stephen OâMahony 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 OâMahony at the Criminal Courts of Justice (CCJ) in Parkgate Street, Dublin 7, on dates in December 2020 and January 2021 were taken into consideration.
OâHiggins, of Cahir OâHiggins and Company, Kingsbridge House, Parkgate Street, Dublin, had no previous convictions at the time but has since gained a public order conviction in relation to a cycle rage incident involving two plainclothes gardaĂ.
He was sentenced to 16 months in jail by Judge Kenneth Connolly on July 22nd this year for the harassment and assault charges, but this sentence was deferred to the end of September to allow OâHiggins to settle his affairs and shut down his solicitor practice â referred to in court as previously the most successful criminal practice in the country.
Reporting restrictions meant this case could not be reported on until after OâHigginsâ theft and perverting the course of justice trial came to an end, to avoid prejudicing the jury. He was found guilty of theft and perverting the course of justice charges yesterday.
In extraordinary scenes in court after the sentence was handed down in July, OâHiggins asked to address the court and spoke from the dock for several minutes â partly to express regret at his offending, but also to reiterate a defence application seeking leave to allow him to fly to Spain for a week at the end of July and also compete in the World Cycling Championships in Denmark in September before he went to prison.
âI think I owe the sport of cycling a proper goodbye,â OâHiggins told the court. âI should wear the Irish colours with pride.â
The application was opposed by Eoin Lawlor SC for the prosecution, but OâHiggins was granted leave to travel by the judge.
The decision came in the wake of a scathing sentence delivered by the judge, in which he described the various aspects of OâHigginsâ behaviour as âderangedâ, âthuggishâ, âbaseâ and âdespicableâ.
âThe harassment arose from an irrational obsession deriving from the fact the two parties were in competition for the same work,â said the judge, noting that this is a ânatural elementâ of solicitor work that occurs âevery day of the week in this buildingâ.
âHe chose to bully Mr OâMahony out of the space he was occupying on a professional basis,â said the judge. âMr OâHiggins believed he was the law, as opposed to being amenable to the law.
âI can assure him: he is amenable to the law.â
He handed down a 32-month sentence and suspended the final 16 months on several conditions, including that OâHiggins have no contact with Mr OâMahony or his wife and family.
In September this year, OâHiggins announced on social media that he was closing his practice âdue to a variety of circumstancesâ. He said he had always intended to retire by the age of 50. âIâm glad one way or another that gift and opportunity has been given to me,â he wrote.
He went into custody in September, in advance of his October trial.
At a sentence hearing into this matter in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last June, the court heard OâHiggins repeatedly accused Mr OâMahony of poaching his clients, sent him numerous threatening emails and texts and was caught on video telling Mr OâMahony: âI will f**king get you.â
OâHiggins also engaged in intimidatory behaviour within the environs of the CCJ, stepping on Mr OâMahonyâs foot in court, elbowing him in the lobby and pushing him when they were both outside the building trying to engage with the same client, the court heard.
OâHiggins texted Mr OâMahonyâs wife shortly after she had given birth telling her he would sue her husband until he owned their house and he lied to Mr OâMahony telling him he [Mr OâMahony] had been exposed to Covid and would have to isolate for 14 days, the court heard.
The harassment culminated in an assault in February 2021, during which OâHiggins pushed Mr OâMahony against a parked car and punched him in the face a short time later, breaking his nose. Part of this incident was captured on CCTV footage, while Mr OâMahony also captured some incidents on his mobile phone.
In a lengthy victim-impact statement, Mr OâMahony outlined the effects OâHigginsâ offending had both on his personal life and his professional one.
During the sentence hearing which took place last June, Det Garda Colm Kelly told Ronan Kennedy SC, prosecuting, that in April 2020, shortly after OâHiggins was charged with theft and perverting the course of justice offences, Mr OâMahony resigned from his position in Cahir OâHiggins Solicitors, where he had worked for 11 years.
Relations between the two men were initially amicable, but when Mr OâMahony started the process of setting up his own solicitor practice in June 2020, the relationship âsouredâ and OâHiggins started making ârepeated unwanted contactâ with Mr OâMahony, the court heard.
Michael OâHiggins SC, defending, said his client had set up one of the most successful criminal law firms in the country, but he suffered from acute depression, stress and burnout.
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Itâll be a nice opportunity for Cahir to catch up with some of his client base. I wouldnât rule out a comeback.
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What an unmitigated fucking cunt
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Heâll find it difficult to get his practising certificate back if he has done time in jail.
Is he anything to Kevin O Higgins?
Grandson according to that article posted.
Heâd be a cousin of a sprinkling of current senior members of the judiciary so as well.
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The OâHiggins dynasty was one of the post independence dynastyâs that did the best for themselves out of the Free State. The Fitzgeraldâs didnât do too bad out of it either, nor the De Valeras for that matter.
Kevin OâHiggins widow married Arthur Cox.
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Are they anything to the south American o Higgins fella I think there is a statue to him in sligo? Friend of a friend in sligo is related to him and is a first cousin of Ronan o gara too. Not sure if same family tree
Donât the OâHiggins clan hail from the Queens County?
That article @Fagan_ODowd posted refers at the end to Cahir as a grandson of Kevin OâHiggins. I think thatâs possibly a mistake, that heâs a grand-nephew?
Yes they started off as farmers in Leix. Cahir is a nephew of Tom who was the son of Kevin. I think that makes him a grandson of Kevin.
His first cousin also Kevin OâHiggins was the President of the Law Society who famously lost the chain of office of the Society. He left it behind him in a taxi, allegedly. He gets very sour when he is ribbed about it.
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Not to my knowledge. The OâHiggins clan were only interested in shooting republicans.
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Iâve just looked it up there. Cahirâs grandfather was Thomas OâHiggins, a brother of Kevin OâHiggins. Thomas OâHiggins was a doctor who entered politics after the assassination of his brother Kevin and defeated Oscar Traynor in a bye-election in 1929.
Tom OâHiggins, the Chief Justice in the 1970âs and 80âs was an uncle of Cahir.
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They were good terrorists though.