Four year jail term for 'Love Ulster' rioter

A man who had travelled from Westmeath to enrol on a course has been given a four-year sentence by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for assaulting two Chinese shop workers during the 'Love Ulster' riot last year.

Thomas Morley (aged 26) had been given accommodation at Galway Road, Kinnegad by a resident who had heard him speaking on a radio programme about his homelessness, but subsequently lost it as a result of his role in the riot.

Garda Fergal O'Flaherty told Mr Paul Greene BL, prosecuting, that Morley was arrested by two of his colleagues when they recognised him as they drove through Mullingar in March 2006.

He had been nominated from analyses of CCTV and media footage of the riot.

Mr Justin McQuade BL, defending Morley, told Judge Katherine Delahunt his client had a "sad and troubled background" and had been homeless most of his life.

Mr McQuade said Morley had travelled to Dublin on the day to enrol on a Vocational College course on Parnell Street but got caught up in the events of February 25, 2006.

He had made little attempt to disguise himself and "deeply regrets" his involvement.

Mr McQuade said Morley suffered significant alcohol and drug problems but had recently made an effort to rehabilitate himself. He now resided in a Dublin hostel since losing his Co Westmeath home.

Morley pleaded guilty to assaulting Mr Bo Hu and Mr Ze Wang at Westland Row, causing them harm. He also pleaded guilty to violent disorder at O'Connell Street on the same occasion.

Detective Garda Des Rogers said Morley told gardaí: "I did get involved in kicking foreigners but I am not a racist and I never said anything bad to them."

Det Gda Rogers agreed with Mr McQuade that Morley, who has 11 previous convictions, had stopped kicking the men "when things got out of hand" and had tried to intervene.

Judge Delahunt said Morley had "fallen between the cracks in the system" but it was up to him to take up the opportunities for rehabilitation offered to him. She suspended the final 18 months of the four-year sentence.

Gda O'Flaherty told Mr Greene that Morley had been captured on the media and CCTV footage confronting and throwing items at gardaí on O'Connell Street while wearing an Irish flag tied around his waist, and also breaking car windows as the riot moved down Nassau Street.

Det Gda Rogers told Mr Greene that the two Chinese victims were knocked to the ground and kicked by Morley and other men who confronted them after they were forced to leave the Centra Shop on Westland Row where they worked.

Mr Wang told Mr Greene that he suffered a broken nose as a result of the assault and had ongoing breathing problems despite seven weeks hospital treatment in China.

Mr Hu, who was not in court, was kicked in the chest as he lay on the ground and suffered bruising.