Four-year sentence for nose-biting man

A man who bit-off a piece of another man’s nose in a drink and drug-fuelled fight over a missing €50 has been jailed for four years by Judge Frank O’Donnell at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Eric Jackson, aged 22, from Cross Avenue, Dun Laoghaire and his friend Stephen Griffin returned from an "early house" after spending the night drinking and taking cocaine to an apartment at Eden Park in Dun Laoghaire where Richie Halligan was asleep on the couch.

Garda Mark Russell told Mr Justin Dillon BL, prosecuting, that a fight started after they accused him of taking €50 from the table and Jackson smashed a mug over his nose.

Both Jackson and Griffin began to kick and punch him and witnesses said Jackson bit Mr Halligan in the nose.

Jackson then picked up a piece of Mr Halligan’s nose from the floor and threw it out the window.

Mr Halligan left the apartment with his face covered in blood and walked for 15 minutes before reaching St Michael’s Hospital, where the gardaí were called.

Jackson, aged 22, from Cross Avenue, Dun Laoghaire, pleaded guilty to assaulting Mr Halligan causing him serious harm on February 15, 2003.

Griffin, aged 23, from Auburn Avenue, Dun Laoghaire, received a three-month suspended sentence after he pleaded guilty to assault.

Judge O’Donnell suspended the final year of the four-year sentence after he was told Jackson had brought €5,000 to court but said because of the nature of the attack on Mr Halligan he had to impose a custodial sentence.

"We can not, as a community, express anything other than abhorrence and total disapproval where someone like Richie Halligan is maimed for the rest of his life," said the judge.

Garda Russell told Mr Dillon that both men admitted being involved in the assault.

Mr Halligan told the gardaí that Jackson had bitten him on the nose but when gardai took him to the spot where he had thrown the piece out the window they were unable to locate it.

Garda Russell said Mr Halligan underwent a skin graft on his nose by a surgeon in the Blackrock Clinic but it wouldn’t hold and subsequently fell off.

They eventually succeeded in a skin graft and he was due to undergo further cosmetic surgery in the coming months.

Mr Halligan told the court that he had never experienced anything like it and was in complete shock following the assault.

He said: "I was unaware of the injury inflicted on me until I left and I saw my reflection in a car window.

"It’s hard to describe how I felt when I was in the hospital and couldn’t really believe it. I kept asking myself why did it happen?

"A part of my ear was disfigured because of the injury to my nose and they had to take a piece from it to fill the gap. Psychologically it has messed me up a lot and I’m self-conscious of it all the time."

Griffin told his counsel, Mr Paul Coffey SC, that he was very sorry about the incident and said it should never have happened.

He added that he had brought €4,000 to court as an unconditional indication of his remorse and could get more if required.

Mr Coffey told Judge O’Donnell that his client was not involved in the serious aspect of the fight and only took part in the kicking process.

Mr Brendan Grehan SC, for Jackson, said the incident happened after he had taken a heavy cocktail of alcohol and cocaine but he had good career prospects in the computer industry and had no previous convictions.

He had expressed genuine remorse and the chances of him re-offending were low.