Random attack leaves tourist with 'significant brain damage'
Two Dublin men whose assault on a Norwegian tourist has left him with severe head injuries and a serious speech impediment have been jailed for terms of seven and six years by Judge Katherine Delahunt today.
Mr Andreas Nagelsett (aged 35), a former school teacher, is currently only able to communicate with his young daughter for one hour a day before he is left exhausted.
Garda Wayne Kelly told Judge Delahunt that he was returned to Norway by air ambulance after his head was repeatedly stamped on by a drunken Dublin mob and refuses to talk about the attack on March 4, 2007.
Christopher Burgess (aged 19), of Templeview Avenue, Clarehall was given a seven-year sentence and Leonard Finnegan (aged 20), of Harold's Cross Road a six-year term.
Both pleaded guilty to assaulting Mr Nagelsett causing him serious harm at Great Strand Street.
"This was a violent unprovoked assault," Judge Delahunt at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. "You have left this young man, in the prime of his life, with significant brain damage and ongoing trauma."
Referring to Burgess’ homelessness and drug abuse, she said the attack had an "inevitability" about it and described him as "a car crash waiting to happen".
Finnegan also pleaded guilty to assaulting Mr Mats Haaland and Mr Per Johansen on the same occasion.
Burgess was further sentenced to two years for a mobile phone robbery at Gloucester Place on May 31, 2006 and three years for smashing a bottle over the head of Mr Ciaran Farron on December 10, 2006 at Eden Quay after asking him for a cigarette.
Burgess had 18 previous convictions and Finnegan had 15. Finnegan is currently serving a two year sentence imposed last October for robbing a bicycle and mobile phone from two children. Burgess has been held in custody since the attack on Mr Nagelsett.
Judge Delahunt suspended the final year of both sentences.
Gda Kelly told prosecuting counsel, Ms Roisin Lacey BL, that the "horrific attack has left Mr Nagelsett mentally scarred for the rest of his life".
Gda Kelly said Burgess admitted stamping on Mr Nagelsett’s head when arrested and said his actions were "a bit drastic".
Finnegan also admitted his role and after viewing the CCTV footage he told gardaí: "I feel like a scumbag".
Gda Kelly said that the three Norwegian men had spent the day in a number of pubs before encountering a group of young men on Great Strand Street, near the city centre.
Mr Nagelsett who was in good spirits exchanged some words with the group and was pushed by one of them. Mr Haaland stood between them and told the youth they did not want a fight.
Gda Kelly said Mr Haaland remembers nothing else but thinks he must have been hit as the next thing he recalled was lying in the gutter with Mr Nagelsett’s head in his hands.
Mr Cathal Brennan was coming out of a Spar shop nearby when he witnessed the assault in progress and said there was a group of up to five aggressors attacking a group of three men.
Gda Kelly said Mr Brennan told gardaí he saw Burgess stamping on Mr Nagelsett’s head as hard as he could four or five times he lay motionless on the ground.
He saw Finnegan aim "a flying kick" at one of Mr Nagelsett’s friends hitting him in the shoulder as he tried to help him and he also saw Finnegan throw a bottle at the other man.
Gda Kelly said Mr Trevor Ellis, a taxi driver, who saw the attack in progress beeped his car horn and flashed his lights. The group of men ran off and he contacted the emergency services.
Mr Nagelsett was taken to hospital and treated for serious head injuries. His airway was compromised by swelling and blood in his nose and throat and he had been left with ongoing serious speech difficulties.
He had been unable to speak until recently due to his injuries and spends an hour a day speaking to his young daughter which leaves him exhausted. He has also been out of work.
Garda Donald Flannery told Ms Lacey that Mr Farron had been smoking outside a pub on Eden Quay in December 2006 when Burgess smashed a bottle over his head after asking him for a cigarette.
Burgess also took part in the robbery of a mobile phone from a man walking home from work in May 2005.
Mr Sean Gillane BL, defending Burgess, said he had been homeless at the time of the offences after leaving a violent domestic situation. He described Burgess as a "slow burning fuse" who had himself been subjected to violence and started using drugs aged just nine.
Mr Luán Ó Braonáin SC, defending Finnegan, said his client wished to apologise for his actions. He had co-operated with the garda investigation and provided any forensic samples required.
Mr Ó Braonáin said Finnegan came from a difficult background, was homeless at the time and had been drinking leading up to the offence.
