A man who head-butted and bit a shop employee during an unprovoked racist attack in Dublin has avoided jail after paying €3,000 to the victim .
Ionut Potop (26) pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting Pakistani national Tariq Mohammed causing him harm at the Londis shop on Westmoreland Street, Dublin on June 4th, 2014.
Last June Judge Patrick McCartan warned Potup, from Romania, that if he did not come to court with €3,000 in six months’ time, he would go to prison.
The court heard that Potop twice shouted “F**k off, you Paki bastard,” before head-butting Mr Tariq on the nose and biting him on his back, drawing blood.
Judge Patrick McCartan said Potop had committed a very serious assault and used “disparaging language” to someone who was in the same circumstances as himself.
The judge previously said he would be disposed to give Potop a chance because he had no previous convictions, but that he wanted to see if his sorrow and regret was genuine.
On Friday Judge McCartan said he was going to be lenient for these reasons and dismissed the charge under the Probation of Offenders Act.
Aggressive
Garda Lorcan Tighe told Vincent Heneghan BL, prosecuting, that the accused man came into the shop acting drunk and aggressive at 10.30pm. He walked over to Mr Mohammed, a senior staff member who had been working in the shop for six years, and tried to slap his face.
Mr Mohammed asked the man to leave, but Potop then went to take a can of Coke off the shelf and said “F**k off, you Paki bastard”. He told Potop he had to pay for the can, and to stop messing. He said they didn’t serve drunk people and again asked Potop to leave.
Potop then head-butted Mr Mohammed’s nose and when Mr Mohammed grabbed his head, Potop bit him near the ribs, causing a lot of pain.
Mr Mohammed felt weak afterwards and was taken to hospital where he had to undergo blood tests. His injuries were to his nose, torso and wrist which was fractured when he fell over during the assault.
Potop told gardaí he had consumed eight pints of Guinness and a substantial amount of vodka on the night. He had arrived from Romania some months previously and had been unemployed, but was now working as a painter-decorator.