Assault victim doesn’t want jail for attacker

A student who suffered brain injuries and required 41 stitches to the head after an assault on Grafton St, Dublin, has told a court he does not want his attacker to go to prison.

Declan McGowan, aged 24, was convicted of assault causing harm to Thomas Carter last February but acquitted of the more serious charge of assault causing serious harm.

Mr Carter required brain surgery and suffered from bleeding within the skull after being punched and his head hitting the ground.

At the sentence hearing yesterday, the court heard that Mr Carter did not want McGowan to be jailed.

He described his attacker as a “culprit with a conscience” and noted that he had checked on his condition in Beaumont Hospital and apologised in person.

McGowan, of North Circular Rd, Dublin, pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing serious harm on May 29, 2011.

He was acquitted after the jury could not find sufficient evidence that McGowan caused the serious harm.

The jury convicted him of assault causing harm after the charge was introduced during the trial.

Garda Amy Kelly told Garret Baker, prosecuting, that Mr Carter and two friends had been drinking following the Champions League final.

An argument developed between Mr Carter and a rickshaw driver on Grafton St when two of his friends ran away without paying. During the argument, Mr Carter knocked the driver’s hat off his head.

McGowan then “came out of nowhere” and punched Mr Carter, who fell and knocked his head against the ground. McGowan was a friend of the rickshaw driver and mistakenly thought Mr Carter had struck him.

McGowan walked away as the victim lay unconscious. The court heard that McGowan then became worried about his victim and ran to a nearby ambulance to report the head injury.

Judge Patricia Ryan adjourned sentencing until May and ordered a probation report.