Convicted mother, Alison Chawke, was released from prison, only four weeks into a year-long sentence for biting a man and kicking him in the head during an unprovoked attack.

Sources confirmed Alison Chawke walked free from Limerick Prison last Tuesday, August 11th, having served only a month in custody.

Chawke was sentenced to two years, two months, with the final 14 months suspended, at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court, on July 14th last.

Sources said Chawke (41), who had no prior convictions, was deemed eligible for release under a Community Return Scheme.

When asked for comment, the Irish Prison Service (IPS) replied that it “does not comment on individual prisoner cases”.

The IPS’s website states the Community Return Scheme is an “incentivised early release scheme co-managed by the Irish Prison Service and the Probation Service” as part of the IPS’s prisoner “resettlement and reintegration” programme.

“It commenced in October 2011 and is now operational in every county and from every prison in the State, and targets well behaved people in custody serving sentences of between one and years of imprisonment who are making genuine efforts to desist from reoffending,” adds the website.

Alison Chawke, of The Beeches, Holywell, Goatstown, Dublin 14, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to John McHugh, at the four-star Dunraven Arms Hotel, Adare, Co Limerick, on November 9th, 2023.

Her brother, Bill Chawke, was jailed for two years and six months with the final 12 months suspended (18m), after he admitted assault causing harm to McHugh’s innocent friend Ger Cox, on the same night.

The two Chawke siblings were drunk when they launched into an “unprovoked” attack on the two victims, said sentencing judge Fiona O’Sullivan.

Alison and Bill Chawke claimed in garda interviews, after their arrest, that they felt the two victims had been staring and smirking at them.

Their sentencing hearing, held at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court, last July, heard Bill Chawke initiated the attack, lunging at Mr Cox, while Alison Chawke threw a pint glass at the victims, later claiming she did so to break up the attack.

During the attack, Ms Chawke bent to her knees and bit McHugh on the side of his face as Bill Chawke wrestled him to the floor of the hotel.

She also kicked McHugh into the side of his head, it was heard.

Judge O’Sullivan said the siblings engaged in an “element of ferocity” during the savage attack.

The judge said Bill Chawke was the “more culpable” of the two siblings as he had initiated the assault.

The brother and sister, whose family is led by pub patriarch Charlie Chawke, who operates a family pub chain across the country, did not reply when first charged in court by Garda Ronan Hayes, Adare, on October 1st 2024.

The Chawke siblings consumed around 15 vodkas, gin and tonics, and Guinness prior to the attack.

Bill Chawke had been making a nuisance of himself and demanding food after hours at the Dunraven, and he lunged at Ger Cox after Cox politely asked him to stop annoying the staff.

The hotel’s CCTV system captured the entire attack in excellent quality footage, which was played in court.

Prosecuting barrister, Lily Buckley, instructed by State Solicitor Brendan Gill, told the sentencing hearing that Alison Chawke “locked onto” McHugh’s face with her teeth and kicked him into the head.

McHugh also sustained scrapes to his face, his forehead and his ears, as well as suffering soft tissue damage to his neck and shoulders, psychological trauma.

Cox suffered a swollen eye, bruising, pain in his cheekbone, and mental trauma.

The Chawkes barristers, senior counsels, Hugh Hartnett and Mark Nicholas, said the attack was an “embarrassment” to the Chawke family.

Prisoner overcrowding is a major issue for jails nationally.

The female prison in Limerick, where Chawke was an inmate for the past four weeks, is currently overcrowded and operating at 159 per cent, according to data published by the IPS.

According to the IPS daily published figures, there were 89 inmates with 56 beds at the Limerick women’s prison today, Wednesday.

Seven prisoners were sleeping on mattresses on the floors of cells.

Bill Chawke, who had no prior convictions, remained in Limerick men’s prison, which was operating at 117 per cent over capacity, this Wednesday.

On Wednesday, there were 405 inmates at the jail and a total of 345 beds.

A total of 39 male prisoners were sleeping on mattresses on the floors. It is not known if Chawke is one of them.