Men avoid jail for taxi attack

A taxi driver and choir singer was forced to cancel an audition with the RTÉ choir after two young men punched and kicked him around the head over a €26 fare.

Feargal MacEoin suffered “huge mental and physical scarring” as a result of a “gratuitous” attack by James Murphy, aged 20, and Dean Daly, aged 19.

Yesterday, both men avoided a prison term after Judge Mary Ellen Ring suspended a sentence of three years. She said she had to have regard to their youth and the fact that neither has any previous convictions. She described the assault as a “shocking and unprovoked attack”.