Jailed son of publican Charlie Chawke held a lavish wedding bash in Marbella just weeks before he was sentenced.
Bill Chawke married Sarah McKenna at the luxury Anantara Villa Padierna Palace resort in Benahavís, Marbella, with the couple exchanging vows for a second time at a Roman amphitheatre on the grounds of the resort, having already had a civil ceremony at Trinity College Chapel in Dublin back in March. His sister and co-accused Alison Chawke served as a witness on the day.
Footage shared on social media shows the newlyweds making a dramatic entrance to their reception beneath a canopy of cascading white flowers and crystal chandeliers, to a driving techno soundtrack, as a tuxedo-clad MC fired a smoke cannon and the couple raised their arms to cheers from guests. The bride wore a strapless lace gown with a long train and veil, while male guests were in black tie and women turned out in a mix of bold colour gowns.
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Just weeks later, the pair were in the dock at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court, learning their fate for a vicious assault on two men at a Co Limerick hotel.
Bill Chawke, whose father Charlie owns a chain of pubs including The Oval Bar and The Bank in Dublin city, is the 32-year-old co-owner of Searson’s pub in Dublin 4. He pleaded guilty to assault causing harm, relating to an incident in his father’s home town of Adare, Co Limerick, two and a half years ago. He and his sister Alison Chawke, 41, who also pleaded guilty, attacked two men in the residents’ bar of the Dunraven Arms Hotel, Adare, in November 2023, in what was described in court as a ‘vicious and unprovoked’ assault.
On Tuesday, the pair stood in the dock at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court, hands held in front of them, as Judge Fiona O’Sullivan delivered their sentences. Bill Chawke was sentenced to two years and six months with the final 12 months suspended after taking into consideration Mr Chawke’s guilty plea and prior good character. The judge sentenced Alison Chawke to two years and two months with the final 14 months of the sentence suspended after taking into consideration her guilty plea, and previous good character.
The judge said Bill Chawke had been the main aggressor, but that his sister, who had at one stage tried to get her brother to calm down, had gone on to take part in a sustained and vicious assault of her own.
The court heard the pair had been drinking heavily on the night, having consumed around 14 alcoholic drinks between them, and had wrongly believed that the two men, John McHugh and Gerard Cox, both in their 50s, were staring and smirking at them in the hotel bar. What followed was a violent confrontation that began in the bar and spilled into the hotel lobby, all of it caught on a mobile phone camera and on the hotel’s own CCTV system. The footage was played to the court.
During the assault, Alison Chawke bit McHugh on the cheek and kicked him in the head as her brother wrestled with him on the floor of the hotel. The pair also turned on his friend Gerard Cox in the same attack. Both victims are said to have been left with lasting anxiety around social situations as a result of what happened to them that night.
The court was told that payments of €5,000 had been made to each of the two men as an expression of remorse, and that separate civil proceedings taken by the victims against the siblings have since been resolved.
Prosecuting barrister Lily Buckley told an earlier sitting of the court that both defendants play important roles in the family pub business, and that their convictions had brought embarrassment on the Chawke family and the wider operation. She noted Bill Chawke is a married man who had apologised, pleaded guilty and had no previous convictions. The judge said Alison Chawke, a working mother of three, had also apologised and pleaded guilty, and was considered less culpable than her brother, having tried at one point to get him to calm down.
The judge said both siblings had suffered the hardship of intense media coverage given the family’s public profile, and noted she had also considered a report from a psychotherapist Alison Chawke had been attending ahead of sentencing.
The Chawke Group, run by father Charlie Chawke, has nine pubs in its portfolio, including Searson’s on Baggot Street, The Goat in Goatstown, The Dropping Well in Rathmines and The Bank on College Green, all in Dublin, as well as Bill Chawke’s and Aunty Lena’s in Adare, Co Limerick, along with four Fired Up pizza outlets.
