A jury has convicted a Dublin man of seriously injuring a former League of Ireland soccer player by beating him with a baseball bat on April 23rd. Liam Byrne (20), of Crumlin, was on a five-year suspended sentence when he savagely assaulted Mr Trevor Donnelly outside a fast-food shop.
The jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court found him guilty of causing serious harm to Mr Donnelly, and of threatening Ms Jennifer Doyle that he would kill or seriously harm Mr Donnelly. The jury took just under three hours after a four-day trial to return unanimous guilty verdicts.
Mr Patrick Marrinan SC (with Ms Aileen Donnelly), prosecuting, said Byrne was given a suspended sentence in January by Judge Elizabeth Dunne for burglary, dangerous driving and firearms charges. A condition was to keep the peace.
Judge Dominic Lynch remanded Byrne in custody for sentence on February 5th. The jury heard that Mr Donnelly and Ms Doyle had gone to the Abrakebabra shop in Crumlin at about 2.15 a.m.
Three young drunken women came in and began shouting "Scumbag" and "Knacker" at Mr Donnelly. They followed Mr Donnelly and Ms Doyle from the shop, and one of them hit Mr Donnelly with her handbag.
Bouncers intervened but Byrne ran at Mr Donnelly and hit him on the head with a baseball bat, knocking him down, then struck him several more times.
Ms Doyle said when she appealed to Byrne to stop he replied: "Tell him if he wakes up it's bullets". He put the bat into a car boot and left. Mr Donnelly was taken to hospital by ambulance. He discharged himself the next day but had to return soon afterwards and was detained for some time.