Friend jailed for memorial night assault

A stonemason who carried out two unprovoked serious assaults, one of which was on a friend, has been jailed for three and a half years.

Michael Noonan, aged 34, had been at a memorial night for a friend who had been murdered in Australia last September when he punched a glass into Gary Rigley’s face. He then turned to Mr Rigley’s brother Shaun and beat him about the head and face.

Garda Andrew O’Donnell told Cathleen Noctor, prosecuting, that CCTV footage of the incident shows Noonan and Mr Rigley having a conversation before Mr Rigley hugged him twice.

Mr Rigley then raised his pint to his mouth before Noonan punched the base of the glass, smashing through it and into his friend’s mouth.

Mr Rigley said in a victim impact statement that he estimated that his dental bills would ultimately cost in the region of €20,000 or €30,000. He said he did not want Noonan to go to jail but he would like a letter of apology and money towards his medical expenses.

In a separate incident the previous May, Noonan had been speaking to a friend in a nightclub in Leopardstown when Thomas Kelly approached them.

Noonan did not realise at the time that Mr Kelly knew the man he was speaking to and a brief confrontation arose between them which ended when Noonan elbowed Mr Kelly directly to the face, knocking the man to the ground and rendering him unconscious.

He was later treated in hospital for multiple skull fractures and haemorrhaging. Mr Kelly had no recollection of the assault and Noonan later admitted it should not have happened.

Noonan, of Granitefield, Rochestown Avenue, Dun Laoghaire, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting Mr Kelly causing him harm at Club 92, Leopardstown, on May 5, 2014.

He also admitted assaulting Mr Rigley causing him harm and assaulting Shaun Rigley at The Magic Carpet Bar, Cabinteely, on September 7, 2014. He had 10 previous convictions which were all for public order offences apart from a suspended sentence handed down in February 2005 for another assault.

Judge Martin Nolan said Noonan seems to be an extraordinary strong man that the blows he delivered came with considerable force to cause such serious injuries.

Regarding the incident with Mr Kelly, the judge said Noonan had completely misread the situation, leaving the man with fractures and haemorrhaging which had long-term effects on him.

“This was a totally unprovoked assault,” he said.

Judge Nolan said the second incident occurred when Noonan was among friends. He noted evidence that Noonan had organised the night himself as he had been in Australia with his friend when he was murdered.

“He is a very strong man who was, at the time, prone to losing control,” Judge Nolan said, adding that there was a “long history of lapses of control causing him to behave aggressively and in a hostile way”.

“One assault to some degree is forgivable whereas two assaults with his history is totally unforgivable,” Judge Nolan said.

Michael Bowman, defending, said his client had written letters of apology. He described the assaults “as two troubling incidents” and accepted that Noonan had completely misinterpreted the first incident.

Counsel said his client works in the family stonemason business and feels “sick to the stomach” for what he has done.