Contrite attacker asked victim to hit him back

A man who punched another man in the eye in Cork City centre felt so bad afterwards that he invited friends of the victim to hit him back in a misguided effort to make up for his wrongdoing.

Jamie Rice, 23, asked the injured party if he could use his phone. The phone owner, who was home on holiday from England, explained that it was a phone he used in England and was not suitable for use in Ireland.

Rice felt that others in the area were laughing at him and he punched one man and then punched the man with the phone in the eye.