Two south Dublin teenagers who beat up a friend, leaving him with a broken nose and fractured cheekbones because he broke a garden shed window at an 18th birthday party, have had their sentences postponed.
Derek Denby (19), Barton Drive, and Karl Cabena (19), Barton Road West, both Rathfarnham, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing Joseph Lynch harm on May 6th, 2005.
Judge Katherine Delahunt adjourned the remainder of the hearing to a later date to allow for probation reports to be presented.
Garda Katherina Savage told Pieter Le Vert, prosecuting, that there were 40 or 50 teenagers at Cabena's 18th birthday party, which was being supervised by his parents.
It is alleged Mr Lynch arrived with a bottle of rum. He drank half of it with some Red Bull and went to a shed in the garden where people were playing darts.
He later told gardaí he was very intoxicated at the time and was not sure what happened, but witnesses said he broke a perspex window before leaving the shed.
Mr Denby ran after him and punched him in the face twice and Garda Savage said the victim was heard saying: "Why are you hitting me?" He made it out to the front of the house leaving a trail of blood behind him.
Other teenagers at the party told gardaí they saw Denby kick Mr Lynch in the head while he was on the ground and Cabena punch him in the face. Mr Lynch kept saying "What have I done?" and asked other people for help before he managed to get away.
Garda Savage said Denby was asked by people at the party why he had blood on his top and he replied he had given "Joe a hiding"and had hit him with a hurley.
Garda Savage was on patrol in the area when Mr Lynch's father pulled in and told her his son had been attacked. She saw that the victim's eyes were bruised and swollen and he was covered in blood.
She went to the Cabena house where she met Karl and his father and was told that Mr Lynch had been at the party but Karl claimed he did not know how he got his injuries.
Denby was later arrested and told gardaí that Mr Lynch had broken the window with a shovel. He admitted hitting him but denied kicking him.
Cabena did not make any admissions to gardaí but handed over the T-shirt he was wearing that night, which was covered in blood.
Garda Savage said Mr Lynch was left with a broken nose and two fractures to his cheekbones. He had several cuts and bruises, and was left with a bloodshot eye for a number of months.
He had been attending psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder and rarely socialised because he was too nervous to go out. He was due to sit his Leaving Certificate the month after the attack but was not fit enough to do it and so had to repeat.
Garda Savage said that neither Cabena nor Denby had previous convictions and they had not come to Garda attention since.