Suspended sentences for south Dublin men in assault case
A disco kiss has cost seven "properly-brought-up" young south Dublin men more than €18,000 in compensation and earned them suspended prison sentences for their various roles in serious assaults and violent disorder.
The seven were sentenced by Judge Desmond Hogan who heard the case arose because a girl kissed a man some months previously leading to a drink fuelled mob-rule battle in which a bottle and a knife were used.
They pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to violent disorder and assault causing harm to Rory Browne, Paul Plunkett and Keith Butler in October 2005 in Stillorgan.
Chris Higgins (aged 19), of Castlebrook, Dundrum produced €5,000 in compensation and Shane O’Connor (aged 21) of Kilmacud Road Upper, Stillorgan paid €3,500,
Compensation of €2,500 each was paid by Eoghan Devins (aged 20) of Hazel Avenue, Kilmacud; Stephen Monaghan (aged 19), of Kilmacud Road Lower, Dundrum; and Stephen Bradshaw (aged 20), of Wedgewood, Sandyford; while Andrew Sharpe (aged 20), originally, from the same south Dublin area and now with an address at Ballinaclash, Blackwater, Co Wexford paid €1,600 and Andrew Greene (aged 19,) of also of Wedgewood paid €1,000.
Judge Hogan said previously that was an "aggravating factor" in the case that people who had been "given a chance in life and brought up properly still commit this kind of assault".
Judge Hogan also imposed two-year suspended sentences on Higgins, O’Connor, Devins, Monaghan, Bradshaw and Sharpe and directed they each carry out 240 hours community service, and a one-year suspended term on Greene who has to do 200 hours community service.
Judge Hogan also directed the proportions of the €18,600 total compensation to be paid to each victim and noted that probation reports on the men were good.
Garda Ivan Howlin told Ms Mary Rose Gearty BL, prosecuting, that at one stage during the second of two incidents it was difficult to determine exactly who was fighting who.
Gda Howlin said that one of the victims was also stabbed in the leg in this "battle" by a steak knife which one of the protagonists had taken from a pub to cut cannabis resin.
He said Higgins had sworn to get revenge on Mr Browne for kissing his girlfriend in a disco some months previously and this set off the chain of events.
Higgins saw Mr Browne coming out of an off licence in Stillorgan with a female friend on October 12, 2005 and when Mr Browne crossed the road to avoid him, Higgins and his friends, followed.
Gda Howlin said Mr Browne threw a drinks can at them and ran away but they caught up with him at Beaufield Park, Stillorgan and forced him down on the ground before kicking and punching him.
Mr Browne subsequently received three stitches for a cut lip and had numerous cuts and bruises. He managed to get up and run a short distance but was caught by Monaghan who held him for Higgins to continue hitting.
At the end of the assault, Higgins grabbed Mr Browne by the scruff of the neck and asked: "Was it worth it?"
Gda Howlin said that, after this assault, Mr Browne realised his mobile phone and certain other personal items were missing. Two of his friends, Keith Butler and Paul Plunkett, rang Higgins’ mobile phone on October 14 to try and get the items back.
Higgins was at a 21st birthday party in Kiely’s Pub in Dundrum with a group of his friends, including Devins, Bradshaw and Sharpe.
It was decided that the two groups would meet at Marshall Court, Stillorgan to get Mr Browne’s mobile phone back and the Kiely’s Pub group started walking towards the agreed venue.
Gda Howlin said Sharpe had taken a steak knife from the bar to cut some cannabis resin he had in his possession and dropped the knife when they met an unmarked garda car at the Stillorgan Shopping Centre but picked it up again once the car had passed.
They met Greene, who was with his girlfriend, and he joined the Kiely’s Pub group heading to Marshall Court. When the two groups met a fight broke out.
Gda Howlin said Mr Butler and Mr Plunkett found themselves outnumbered. Mr Butler was hit over the head with a glass bottle when O’Connor stepped in to help his younger brother who was fighting him.
Mr Plunkett was fighting three others, one of whom was Sharpe who stabbed him in the back of the left leg.
Mr Butler had crawled away into some bushes after he was hit with the bottle but subsequently became involved in a further struggle with another man and fell to the ground as he was kicked. O’Connor intervened at this stage to prevent further harm.
