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Shutterstock/Bartek Zyczynski

Teen boy "lost control" and punched girl on night out

He has been given community service over the incident.

A YOUNG MAN who knocked a girl unconscious with a “ferocious dig in the face” after a name-calling incident has been ordered to do community service in lieu of a prison sentence.

Aaron Daly (20) was out with his girlfriend and their friends when the group came across then 20-year-old Jamie Kelly and her friends.

Glass bottle thrown

Daly’s group started shouting abusive comments and Kelly approached them about it.

She was walking away when a glass bottle was thrown in her direction. The bottle smashed and a piece of glass cut Kelly’s arm, so she returned to the group and confronted them.

She subsequently told gardaí she has no recollection of what happened next because she was knocked out.

Kelly was later treated in hospital for a large cut above her left eye and swelling. She was too embarrassed to leave her house for a number of days because of her injuries.

Guilty plea

Daly of Primrose Grove, Darndale, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting Kelly causing her harm at Marigold Crescent, also in Darndale on April 21, 2013. He was 17 years old at the time and has no previous convictions.

Judge Martin Nolan said it was a severe punch to the face which rendered Kelly unconscious. He said there was no excuse for what Daly did.

“He lost control and punched her without any good reason,” the judge said.

Last October Judge Nolan had ordered a report from the Probation Service to see if Daly was suitable for community service and told him to have €1,500 in court for Kelly on that date.

Remorseful

Yesterday Judge Nolan noticed that the report was positive. He said the attack was reprehensible and but accepted that Daly had no previous convictions and was sincerely remorseful.

He ordered Daly to carry out 200 hours of community service over the next year in lieu of an 18 month prison sentence. The €1,500 was also paid over.

Sergeant Damien Mangan told Lorcan Staines BL, prosecuting, that Kelly’s friend witnessed the assault and later told gardaí that Daly hit the victim “a ferocious dig in the face and knocked her out”.

Aoife Nickle BL, defending, said her client was ashamed of his behaviour and submitted that the attack was totally out of character.

She said he had since become a father and was also diagnosed with schizophrenia in January 2014. He had written a letter of apology for Kelly which counsel requested be handed over to her.

The court heard that Daly wasn’t known by name to the victim and her friends so it was some time before gardaí identified him and questioned him. He provided a false alibi and denied the assault until gardaí put other witness statements to him.

Read: Former restaurant manager awarded €18,000 in damages after cutting foot on broken flower pot plate>

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    Mute Paul Doyle
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    Dec 28th 2016, 12:47 PM

    Please no one start with that 2016 crap… he’s 88 nanna was 96, Leonard coen was 79 or something… death happens get over it…

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    Mute KM TON
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    Dec 28th 2016, 12:49 PM

    Two late Paul! Two late! If i die between now and Sunday, i ask of my loved ones, PLEASE PLEASE do not say ‘ God damn 2016′. I’m begging you!

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    Mute Paul Doyle
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    Dec 28th 2016, 12:54 PM

    In 2 years time twink or some sh## will be hit by a 2016 Scania truck n people be like “2016 was just so cruel to the celebrity’s”

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    Mute Nucky
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    Dec 28th 2016, 12:57 PM

    No n people be more like shut up ya sap….

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    Mute O Swetenham
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    Dec 28th 2016, 2:20 PM

    You guys are too cool for school.

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    Mute Mike Cantwell
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    Dec 28th 2016, 12:45 PM

    RIP Anthony, I loved Dead As Doornails

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    Mute Brian Mulligan
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    Dec 28th 2016, 2:23 PM

    Do you remember the year when no one died, mad so it was….

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Dec 28th 2016, 12:54 PM

    Anthony Cronin leaves behind him a great legacy of wonderful writing that will endure long after his desth.

    I would be disturbed if no talented people were to die. We are all human. Some of us die sooner than others but we all die, even the most talented and gifted of us.

    We notice the death of talented people more because they are in the public eye and can even be a backdrop to our lives but they, like us, are not immportal.

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    Mute Shano
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    Dec 28th 2016, 1:55 PM

    Roll on 2017 when no celebrities will die at all.

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    Mute Joe Geoghegan
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    Dec 28th 2016, 1:13 PM

    One of Ireland’s great intellectuals.

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    Mute Anthony John Cotter
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    Dec 28th 2016, 1:29 PM

    Dead as Doornails is a classic, he was always worth listening to in interviews with the incredible company he kept.

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    Mute Diarmuid Lucey
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    Dec 28th 2016, 12:46 PM

    Who’s next? 2016 has not been a good year!

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    Mute Fox in the Box
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    Dec 28th 2016, 12:47 PM

    @Diarmuid Lucey:

    What an original comment

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    Mute Peter Martin
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    Dec 28th 2016, 3:26 PM

    Met him back about 20 years ago. A very nice man. Condolences to his wife and daughter.

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    Mute Paul Devlin
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    Dec 28th 2016, 4:04 PM

    RIP. Dead as Doornails is a classic. When people talk about the good old days, get them to read it

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    Mute Eye_c_u
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    Dec 28th 2016, 2:40 PM

    Curse of 2016 strikes again

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    Mute Christopher Gardiner
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    Dec 28th 2016, 3:23 PM

    Who is he?

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    Mute Eric Bobrie
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    Dec 28th 2016, 10:45 PM

    French académicien Michel Deon Who lives in Conemarra is dead too. Bad Day for littérature

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    Mute Louise Brierley
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    Dec 29th 2016, 1:47 AM

    ” Dead as Doornails “is a classic, excellent read, but rather dated and somewhat indecipherable today to people not necessarily in tune with 50s/60s Dublin Bohemia.

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