Jailed for unprovoked attack on woman

A middle-aged man struck a woman in an unprovoked attack and then continued the assault as she lay on the ground in a crime which the sentencing judge described as despicable and cowardly.

Michael Rutherford, aged 48, pleaded guilty yesterday to a charge of assault causing harm to Veronica Tobin at Glen Avenue, Blackpool, Cork, on October 17, 2016.

Rutherford had denied this and other charges earlier in the week. He was put on trial by judge and jury but the trial collapsed for legal reasons. Rutherford faced the prospect of a retrial but he pleaded guilty to one of the charges on the indictment yesterday, namely the assault.