A MAN WHO avoided a custodial term after leaving a complete stranger comatose following a devastating ‘one-punch attack’ was jailed today after the Court of Appeal quashed the original sentence.

Stephen Duffy (28) of Homelawn Road, Tallaght, had pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing serious harm to Darren Darley (50) after the two men crossed paths for the first time at Belgard Road, Tallaght, Dublin on August 29, 2016. 

Although Judge Melanie Greally said Mr Darley had been “fortunate to escape with his life” following the assault, she handed down a wholly suspended sentence of four years to his attacker at a hearing last July. 

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) later appealed the sentence on the grounds that Judge Greally had erred by not imposing a custodial term and the penalty she handed down was unduly lenient. 

Today, in a judgement delivered by Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, sitting with Court President Mr Justice George Birmingham and Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly, Duffy’s original sentence was quashed. 

Noting that the sentencing judged had erred in principal, Mr Justice McCarthy re-sentenced Duffy to four years’ imprisonment with the final three years suspended. 

Duffy was then taken into custody after entering into a good behaviour bond.

Previous evidence

At an appeal hearing in January, Mr Garnet Orange SC, for the DPP,  told the court that a “single blow struck between strangers” could often have “devastating consequences for the parties concerned”. 

In this case, which he said was a “classic one-strike assault case”, the immediate impact on the victim had been an extended stay in hospital where he had been treated for a “traumatic brain injury”. 

Mr Orange also said the fact that Duffy returned to the scene to put his victim into the recovery position was not a significant mitigating factor given that the defendant then fled for a second time almost immediately and was only later traced by gardai as a result of “unusual clothing” he was wearing that night. 

He said the DPP had no objection to the headline sentence of six-and-a-half years which Judge Greally had identified, or the post-mitigation term of four years, both of which were appropriate terms for the offence. 

However, counsel said the sentencing judge had erred by failing to impose a custodial term on Duffy “in a manner that was consistent with sentences imposed in other cases”.  

In response, Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC said that Judge Greally had given a “comprehensive and careful explanation as to why the sentence should have been wholly suspended”. 

Mr Ó Lideadha said there had been no element of “prior planning” or “sustained violence” to the assault and the single blow was struck after a brief verbal exchange between the men took place.  

Counsel told the court his client was “extremely remorseful” for his actions, was no longer abusing alcohol, and was trying his best to make a positive contribution to society “as a human being, a worker, a father, and a partner”.

Previously, CCTV footage shown to Judge Greally had displayed “a distinctively dressed person” later identified as Duffy approach Mr Darley. 

Duffy is then seen striking Mr Darley, who falls to the ground. 

Detective Garda Cian Stears told Fergal Foley BL, prosecuting, that Mr Darley sustained a bleed on his brain, was in a coma for a period of time and had required life-saving surgery. 

When Mr Darley awoke from his coma he had no memory of the incident, the garda said. 

The Circuit Court heard that the victim’s sense of smell and taste were seriously affected and in the longer term, Mr Darley had to close his recruitment business after he began to suffer from “deficits” in his memory.  

The court was also told the victim agreed to accept €5,000 from Duffy earlier this year. 

Judge Greally said she had suspended the entirety of the four-year sentence on strict conditions including that Duffy pay an additional €10,000 to the victim within a two-year period.