Assault victim had to sit exams on his own due to anxiety

A student had to have a special room arranged for doing his Leaving Certificate exams because of the anxiety he had from an unprovoked attack on his way home days beforehand.

Danny Dinan, aged 21, from London, was visiting Mallow, Co Cork, and staying at Forest View, Gould’s Hill, in the town and carried out the attack on the student for no reason. Yesterday, Dinan was jailed for two years and ordered to stay out of Ireland for seven years following his release.

Garda Brian Callanan testified yesterday at Cork Circuit Criminal Court that Dinan carried out an unprovoked assault on the student at Summerhill, Mallow, days before his Leaving Cert.

Dinan first punched him in the face and then punched and kicked him when he was on the ground.

Dinan replied ‘no comment’ to every question put to him by gardaí and fled to England when he was charged and released on bail. Gardaí had to extradite him after he had served another sentence in Wansford prison for another assault.

The victim of the assault on June 3, 2012, had to sit his Leaving Cert in a room on his own as a result of how he felt after the attack. He was not happy with his results so ended up repeating the year and resitting the exams.

Donal O’Sullivan, defending, said Dinan was leading a rather aimless life at the time and, in the absence of adult supervision, had fallen into abuse of drink and drugs.