A drug addict who stabbed his friend in the back during a drunken row over a computer game has been jailed for three years and four months.
Jonathan Dwane (36) stuck a knife into John Paul Bradley three times, lacerating his kidney, after the pair had a row over the PlayStation game they were playing, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.
“I’m more than sorry,” Dwane told gardaíafter Mr Bradley was taken to hospital. “It happened on the spur of the moment. He’s my mate of 20 years.”
Dwane, of Longdale Way, Ballymun, pleaded guilty to one count of assault causing harm to Mr Bradley at the same address on January 17th, 2017. Another count of producing a knife was taken into consideration.
Jailing him for 40 months, Judge Martin Nolan said Dwane’s actions were “a gross over-reaction, to put it at its mildest”.
“It was fortunate for everybody that the injured party made a full recovery,” the judge said.
Det Garda Ronan McMorrow told Philipp Rahn BL, prosecuting, that the two friends had been drinking during the day and met later that night in the house where Dwane lived with his father.
The pair were playing computer games in Dwane’s bedroom and drinking beer and whiskey when they had a row about a game. They also exchanged words over a bag of heroin that had apparently gone missing from the room.
Jabs
The court heard Mr Bradley was still playing the game a few minutes later when he felt three sharp jabs in his back and turned to see Dwane holding a knife. The pair grappled over the weapon before Dwane’s father came into the room and disarmed his son.
There was a substantial amount of blood in the bedroom, the court heard. Mr Bradley was taken to hospital where he underwent surgery for a laceration to his kidney. He declined to make a victim impact statement.
When interviewed by gardaí, Dwane apologised for stabbing his friend. He said he kept a knife on his bedside locker “for protection”.
Both men are long-standing drug addicts, the court heard, and Dwane has a number of convictions for public order and drug offences.
Padraig Dwyer SC, defending, said his client had a history of mental illness, which the court heard had been exacerbated by drug-taking. He is on anti-psychotic medication and methadone for heroin addiction. He has two young children with his partner.
Judge Nolan said the assault was extremely serious and at the higher end of the scale. It had been carried out at the “slightest provocation”, he noted.