A convicted murder has been jailed for three years for slashing a man's earlobe and assaulting a garda who came to his aid after he had tried to set himself alight.
Dermot Byrne (54), Bath Street, Irishtown, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, possession of a knife and common assault on April 25th, 1995, and May 6th, 1998.
Byrne was found guilty two weeks ago at the Central Criminal Court of the murder of Bernard Smyth (46), of St Patrick's Villas, Ringsend, at Irishtown on October 29th, 1998. He is appealing the conviction.
Det Garda Brian Cagney told prosecuting counsel Mr Justin Dillon that Byrne had tried to initiate conversation with two men in the Dockers Pub, Ringsend. Byrne had assumed they were gardai. When he was rebuffed, Byrne produced a knife and slashed one man's right earlobe. In what Mr Dillon described as a "very strange" incident, Det Garda Cagney said on May 6th, 1998, gardai had to remove Byrne from a pub after he covered himself in petrol in an endeavour to set himself alight. Byrne assaulted a garda, smashing his teeth.