A 54-YEAR-old man has been sentenced to six years in jail, with two suspended, for an assault on former Ireland and Nottingham Forest soccer player Miah Dennehy which left him incapable of independent living.
David Naughton, Avonmore Park, Mayfield, Cork had denied assault causing serious harm to Mr Dennehy outside the Fob and Gill pub in Mayfield on August 17th, 2007, but a jury took just 17 minutes to find him guilty of the offence after a three-day trial.
Sentencing Naughton at Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday, Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin described the attack as “a vicious, premeditated and violent assault” which betrayed a shocking level of violence for a man of Naughton’s years. Judge Ó Donnabháin said Naughton had punched Mr Dennehy in the face and that the victim had fallen back and hit his head off the ground with such force that he suffered a severe brain injury.
Det Sgt Seán O’Regan had outlined the background to the case. Naughton, who described himself as “a buddy” of Mr Dennehy, had been drinking off and on in the Fob and Gill pub since 11.30am on the day in question and had consumed about eight pints.
Mr Dennehy had entered the pub at about 4.30pm and had consumed three or four pints and a row had broken out between them over an incident a fortnight earlier involving a friend of Mr Dennehy’s and Naughton. When Mr Dennehy subsequently left the pub, Naughton followed him.
Naughton hit Mr Dennehy in the face, knocking him back, and he hit his head on the ground. Naughton could be identified on the CCTV footage standing over him pointing down and saying “Don’t you f***ing slag me again” before returning to the bar to finish his drink.