Man get 18 months for bus stop assault

A man who was one of a group of men who kicked and punched a neighbour while he was waiting at a bus stop with his father has been given an 18-month sentence by Judge Katherine Delahunt.

Jonathan Bolger (aged 21) of Kilcarrig Green, Tallaght had earlier that day visited the home of Michael McMahon Senior and Junior while armed with an iron bar demanding to see them and threatening to kill them "stone dead" if he caught them.

He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm to Michael McMahon Junior and using a metal bar in a manner likely to intimidate another on April 15, 2007. The victim was left with a fracture to his temple among other minor injuries.

Judge Delahunt said: "This was a premeditated attack without excuse."

adjourned the case last April to allow for the preparation of a probation report having heard evidence that Bolger had no previous convictions but was awaiting sentence for a road traffic offence.

She said that evidence from Garda Claire Meehan that Mr McMahon was kicked in the head while he lay on the ground was a significant aggravating factor and noted that it "indicated an intention to inflict the maximum damage".

Judge Delahunt suspended the last year of the sentence having taken into account probation and psychiatric reports before the court.

Garda Meehan told Mr Roughan Banim BL, prosecuting, that the victims were waiting for a bus on the Cookstown Road in Tallaght when a number of men got out of a car and attacked Mr McMahon Junior.

They kicked and punched him before they knocked him down. They then continued to kick and punch him as he lay on the ground.

Garda Meehan said one of the men suggested that he use a lock and chain on him but the victim told gardaí that Bolger told him not to do this. One of the group told Mr McMahon Junior that this would "not be the end of it" before they left. Bolger was the only man that the victim could identify

Bolger admitted at garda interview that he had been involved and claimed that he thought the victim had planned "to get him" and he wanted "to get there first".

Garda Meehan agreed with Mr Banim that Mr McMahon refused to make a victim impact statemen and had recently indicated that he wanted to withdraw the complaint.