A JUVENILE WHO went on a “drunken rampage” has been sentenced to detention for attacking three women who had attended a Beyoncé concert.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the boy (17), who cannot be identified because of his age, consumed half a litre of vodka at home on 10 July 2016, before going to a local pub where he spent a further €90 on vodka and mixers.
Maddie Grant BL, prosecuting, showed the court CCTV footage of the accused assaulting the women and another man outside his local chipper next to the pub.
Garda Nathan Burke told the court that following an enjoyable evening at a Beyoncé concert, the three women travelled together to a pub where they met the accused, who they “knew vaguely”.
Later outside the chipper the boy asked the women if he could accompany them back to a house “for a few drinks”. When they declined he told one woman “I’ll smash your face in”.
The boy then smashed the glass window and door of the chipper and damaged the windscreen of a car parked nearby. He then began attacking the women, pushing one woman to to the ground and kicking her as she lay semi-unconscious in a ball.
A man who was in the chipper tried to intervene and was knocked to the ground by the accused, sustaining a head wound.
He threw another woman to the pavement. She sustained a bruised coccyx and injuries to the back of her head. A third woman was then shoved to the ground, suffering a sprained ankle and injuries to her leg from the shattered glass.
The boy pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to four people and criminal damage at the location in Dublin city.
Judge Melanie Greally described the incident as one filled with “terror and violence”. She sentenced the boy to five years, with the final three suspended, and instructed that he engage fully with the Probation Services on his release and deal fully with his anger and alcohol issues.
All three women said in victim impact statements that they suffered acute psychological distress as a result of the assault.
Ms Grant described the events as a “drunken rampage”.
Eoin Lawlor BL, defending, accepted that the CCTV of the incident made for “startling watching”. However, he said that the accused had pleaded guilty, saving the victims the stress of a trial.
He told the court that the accused’s family were “well regarded in the area” and noted that the boy wished to offer a sincere apology to all involved.
Mr Lawlor said the accused was one of ten children, who found solace in alcohol at a young age.
Judge Greally noted the “extremely serious” nature of the accused actions, knocking members of the public to the ground next to a busy road. She said that all four victims were “exposed to the risk of real injury”.
The judge remarked that a significant portion of the boy’s problems could be attributed to alcohol and to having an “overburdened mother”.
She said that the law required her to view the accused as a child, both at the time he committed the offences and on the date of sentence.
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