Steven Donnelly: Olympic boxer facing jail over train assaults

Boxer Steven Donnelly represented Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games and Ireland at the 2016 Olympics

An Olympic boxer was handed a six-month jail term after he assaulted two men on a train, punching one victim in the face and giving him a bloody nose.

Steven Donnelly represented Ireland in the 2016 Olympics and won two Commonwealth Games bronze medals for Northern Ireland in 2014 and 2018.

Donnelly, from Dunfane Park, Ballymena, was given prison terms for the assaults and for breaching restraining orders.

He was taken to the cells but was then freed on bail pending an appeal.

The 34-year-old boxer had already pleaded guilty to common assault at a previous hearing but is now appealing his custodial sentence.

He has a previous conviction for sexually assaulting a woman,

On Thursday, footage of the train attack was played to the court.

According to witness statements, Donnelly was striding up and down the carriage "singing sectarian songs and acting aggressively to members of the public," during the train journey on 6 August 2022.

'Do you know who I am?'

In the footage, Donnelly was filmed remonstrating with the victims, flexing his right bicep and leaning over the backs of seats as a middle-aged woman tried to reason with him.

At one point, Donnelly was pushed back by the woman but when a man on the train stood up, Donnelly lunged forward, reached past the woman and punched the man in the face.

A prosecution lawyer described the attack on the second victim as a "technical" assault, explaining that there was no physical contact.

But the lawyer told the court that at the time Donnelly said: "Do you know who I am? I'm Steven Donnelly the boxer."

In addition to the train attack, Donnelly was also sentenced for two cases where he breached a restraining order by sending text messages and a voice message to an ex-girlfriend.

The court heard that the relationship had ended two years earlier and the woman complained that she felt harassed by the continuing contact.

'Alcohol-fuelled nights out'

A defence lawyer asked the judge to spare his client from prison, telling the court that "all too often we see individuals who have had sporting success find that there's a void in their lives" which they try to fill with alcohol, drugs or gambling.

He explained that Donnelly had a "successful boxing career" at both Olympic and Commonwealth level and had tried to fill that void with alcohol.

"Virtually all of the offences [on his record] are driven by alcohol-fuelled nights out and that has been a problem," the lawyer said, adding that he had been instructed that Donnelly had not taken alcohol since the death of his brother in December.

Passing sentence, the judge noted that at the time of the train assaults, Donnelly was already subject to two suspended sentences for previous convictions.

He said the boxer had "plenty of opportunity to walk away" during the incident but he chose not to.

"I'm not persuaded to do anything other than impose a custodial sentence," he said.

He imposed jail sentences amounting to six months for the train assaults and the breaches of the restraining order.

Donnelly was initially taken down to the cells, but he was later released on £500 bail as he intends to appeal.