Alison Chawke released from prison less than a month into her sentence for violent assault

ALISON CHAWKE HAS been released from prison after serving 28 days of her sentence for her part in an assault on two men at a luxury Limerick hotel in 2023.

The 41-year-old was jailed alongside her brother Bill Chawke for attacking the two men without provocation in July.

The two siblings are the daughter and son of prominent publican Charlie Chawke. The court heard they had brought “embarrassment” on their family.

She was sentenced 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.

However, she has now been released under the community return scheme.

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It is an incentivised scheme for the supervised release of qualifying prisoners who complete unpaid community work as a condition of their early release.

It was developed to reduce prison overcrowding and facilitate offenders paying reparations their communities through unpaid work.

Prisoners must apply for the scheme and be deemed eligible. 

The CCTV recordings of the assault were played in court, showing the brawl spreading from the residents bar out to the hotel’s front reception area.

At one point in the front foyer of the hotel, Alison Chawke knelt down beside one of the victims and “locked onto” his face with her teeth.

Ms Chawke bit him on his left cheek, said prosecuting barrister Lily Buckley, instructed by Brendan Gill, State Solicitor for County Limerick.

Ms Chawke also kicked the man into the side of his head. She later admitted to gardaí that she was not justified in her awful behaviour on the night.