Pair jailed for attacking man lured to apartment

Two men who attacked a man leaving him with severe tendon damage to his wrist have been jailed.

The victim, Luke O’Toole, 25, was lured to an apartment in Cherry Orchard after he was told by Robert Ellis, aged 22, via text messages and phonecalls that his ex-girlfriend, Ellis’s sister, wanted to meet him there.

When Mr O’Toole arrived he was met in the car park by Robert Ellis and the two walked up a stairwell to the apartment. There was no answer and they went back down.

Garda Cathal Middleton told Tara Burns, prosecuting, when Mr O’Toole was two steps from the bottom he was attacked by Shane Geoghan, aged 22, and Lee McDonnell, aged 21, who had been crouching by the stairwell.

Ellis, of Ballyfermot Par-ade, Ballyfermot; Geoghan of Rowlagh Crescent, Clondalkin; and McDonnell of Lough Conn Rd, Ballyfermot; pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal to assault causing harm at Cedarbrook Avenue, Cherry Orchard, on Jul 27, 2011.

Judge Mary Ellen Ring jailed McDonnell for three-and-a-half years and Ellis for four years. She suspended the last 18 months on both terms. She adjourned the sentencing of Geoghan until October.