Innocent man’s nose broken during assault

An innocent man was caught in the crossfire of a fight on a late night mini-bus taxi and had his nose broken and some teeth loosened.

The man responsible for the assault has since paid the injured party €15,000 in settlement of a civil action.

Aidan Condon, aged 25, of 8 Elm Place, Kilworth, Co Cork, faced sentencing at Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday.

He pleaded guilty previously to the single charge of assault causing harm to John Murphy, at Pearse Square, Fermoy, Co Cork, on January 10, 2016.

Garda Padraig Barrett testified that the defendant became involved in an altercation where he felt that a relative had been assaulted.

Brian Leahy, defending, said the defendant accepted that the injured party John Murphy had nothing to do with that earlier incident. The defendant paid €15,000 in settlement of the case against him.

The injured party did not wish to attend for the sentencing hearing and did not make a victim impact statement.

Judge Gerard O’Brien was inclined to give the defendant the benefit of a dismissal under the Probation of Offenders Act but could not do so because the matter was before the circuit rather than district court.

Donal McCarthy, prosecuting, said however unfair it may be, the law as it stands did not allow for a dismissal. Instead, a conviction was recorded but no penalty was imposed.

Mr McCarthy said the record showing no penalty would speak for itself.