'Kick boxing' victim gets full compensation seven years after Offaly attack

FULL compensation has been paid to the victim of an Offaly assault, seven years after the attack.

Tullamore Circuit Court was told that €8,000 had been paid by one young man in relation to the assault which resulted in his victim sustaining a brain injury.

Both the assailant and the victim, a native of Spain who was in Ireland on a student exchange, were aged 16 at the time of the offence on January 28, 2018.

The guilty party cannot be named to protect the identity of the injured person.

Finalisation of the case has been adjourned frequently over the last few years to allow compensation payments to be made by the defendant who no longer lives in the Midlands.

Originally from central Europe and now aged 23, he had experience in kick boxing and kicked the victim outside a shopping centre, causing a life threatening clot on the brain.

The Circuit Court was told in 2021 that the assault was unprovoked and the victim had to undergo emergency surgery in Beaumont hospital and subsequently returned to his home country where he was making a successful recovery.

At a sentencing hearing previously Judge Keenan Johnson viewed CCTV footage from an Offaly shopping centre where an altercation involving some young people occurred.

Judge Johnson imposed a three-year sentence and because of the accused's age, he was detained in Oberstown and was released in June 2019 following three positive probation reports from the detention centre.

Judge Johnson said he wished to impose a suspended sentence, with compensation payment conditions, but that was not permitted under the Children's Act, and instead the three-year sentence was deferred with regular reviews in court.

The court heard the accused's release was conditional on him submitting himself to Probation Service supervision, engaging with Youthreach, finding employment and paying €50 a week to the injured party's Spanish bank account.

He was living in a county other than Offaly and was in arrears with his compensation payments by November 2019.

At that stage he was ordered to pay €700 every three months until €8,000 in total was paid back.

That same month, following allegations the teenager had committed further offences, he was remanded in custody to Oberstown again for a short period and on his release he was ordered to abstain from alcohol and observe a curfew.

In June 2020 the State re-entered the matter again for breach of the curfew and he was remanded to Cloverhill Prison before being released again on condition he sign on daily at a Garda Station.

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A warrant had to be issued for him in November 2020 when he did not turn up for a court appearance and it was discovered that he had gone to his home country to visit his grandmother.

Then in February 2021 the warrant was executed and the accused was placed in custody in Cloverhill again, prior to an appearance back in court and bail being granted.

The sentencing hearing was told by the defence that he had written a letter for the court in which he explained how he had spoken to his grandmother a lot about “the trouble” he had caused and how he had learned that alcohol was the cause of it.

“I have issues with alcohol myself and I believe that is the reason for my character to have changed so much to commit this crime,” the letter said.

He was very remorseful for what he had done.

“I wish I'd realised all of this sooner and I could have made the changes necessary to stop this from happening. I know that's what jails are for and my eyes have definitely been opened.”

At that point he had €500 in court to put towards the compensation and also had a job lined up in a bakery and would be making efforts to pay back the remainder.

The court was told more than €2,700 had been paid in all but there were still arrears.

Judge Johnson commented that it had all been quite traumatic for the Spanish victim.

“I'm sure he'd be wondering what type of justice system have we that the judge can direct that payments be made and then they're not,” he said.

The youth originally pleaded guilty to a charge of assault, causing serious harm, and Judge Johnson said at the sentencing hearing that an aggravating factor was that the accused followed the victim out of the shopping centre before kicking him.

His use of his kick boxing skills in the assault was also a factor in determining the three-year sentence.

He was absolutely satisfied the offence had to carry a custodial element “because of its gravity”, while at the same time incentivising the accused to rehabilitate and offer “some form of recompense” to the victim.

While putting a young person in custody was a last resort, Judge Johnson said it would be in the best interests of the accused. Medical reports and a victim impact statement indicated the victim suffered a temporal acute extradural haematoma nine centimetres long.

He was brought to Tullamore Hospital first and released but after getting severe headaches and vomiting was readmitted, and then transferred to Beaumont after a scan.

The victim himself reported that he suffered from apathy and a lack of motivation and organisation and was slower in accomplishing tasks.

A psychologist was helping him but he had to give up his school, job and life in Ireland and when he returned home he could not play sports or engage in mental activity for the first few months.

After six months he could return to sport and after a year he was able to return to his “first love”, roller hockey.

He felt he always needed to be on his guard and his academic results had suffered.

A psychologist's report said he had recovered to previous levels of verbal comprehension and expression, learning, memory and abstract reasoning.

The case will be mentioned in court again on October 8 next.