€40k award for having piece of ear bitten off

HAVING your ear bitten off is not something that should happen in a civilised society, a High Court judge said yesterday as he awarded €40,000 damages to a 28-year-old carpenter who was attacked in a Dublin nightclub.

The court heard the same thing had “unbelievably” happened to another man only five minutes earlier in the nightclub in February 2002.

Darren Curneen of Clondalkin took the proceedings against Lacefield Taverns Limited, trading as Sidewalk nightclub of Upper O’Connell Street, Dublin, which was not represented in court, meaning the case went undefended.