A man has been sentenced at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin to 2 1/2 years in prison, with 18 months suspended, for assaulting a 20-year-old man who died in hospital after he was attacked in Tallaght on New Year’s Day last year.
James O’Brien (22) of The Mill, Baltinglass, Co Wicklow pleaded guilty last June to the assault causing harm of Dale Creighton (20) on January 1st, 2014, on Saint Dominic’s Road in Tallaght.
Seven other people from Dublin in their 20s are also charged in connection with Mr Creighton’s death.
At Monday’s sentence hearing, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy told the court that, on New Year’s Eve last year, Mr Creighton was attending a house party, which he left at 3am.
The court heard that Mr Creighton split up from his friends and that his intention was to return to the house party.
The court also heard that a larger group of people were at the Plaza, where “considerable alcohol was consumed”.
Allegations were made that somebody stole a woman’s handbag and telephone, the court heard. “They took the view that Mr Creighton had involvement,” the judge said.
Mr Creighton was chased and caught up with on a footbridge, where he was assaulted by people other than O’Brien, the court heard.
The court also heard that O’Brien arrived in a car and that his actions were seen on CCTV last week in court.
“It is crystal clear he punched and kicked Mr Creighton while he was lying prone on the ground,” the judge said.
O’Brien punched Mr Creighton nine times, the court heard, before leaving the scene.
Mr Creighton died later in hospital and O’Brien was arrested.
Injuries
When asked by gardaí about injuries to his hand, O’Brien said that during an argument in his house he punched two holes in his bedroom door, the court heard.
Mr O’Brien also told gardaí that, on the night of the assault, he was driving home to a friend’s house and got out of the car to see what was happening, the judge told the court.
“Clearly, both answers are inaccurate in the context of the evidence,” the judge said.
She said the assault lasted 1 1/2 minutes.
The court heard that Mr Paul Greene SC, defending, expressed remorse last week on behalf of O’Brien and that his probation report described him as “a moderate risk of re-offending”.
The court also heard that O’Brien comes from “a stable family background” and has “absented himself from Tallaght in an effort to rehabilitate himself”.
“It was a violent, cowardly attack by Mr O’Brien,” the judge said.
In assessing whether his remorse is genuine, the judge considered his guilty plea.
She also said that the genuineness of his remorse is “tempered by the inaccurate information he gave to gardaí regarding his injuries and his presence at the scene”.
The mitigating factors in considering Mr O’Brien’s sentence were his guilty plea, his remorse, his lack of previous convictions and his efforts to rehabilitate, the court heard.