Bus attacker 'locusts' sentenced

A teenager who along with others violently attacked a college student which led to the victim being thrown from a window on the top floor of a Dublin bus has been given a suspended sentence.

Judge Frank O'Donnell described the incident as an "ultimate nightmare" and said the four, who are all members of the travelling community, "were acting as locusts".

The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to three years' detention which Judge O'Donnell suspended on condition that he keep the peace and be of good behaviour for five years and liaise with the probation service. He had no previous convictions.

Michael Tyser Connors (aged 19) of Daletree Place, Daletree Estate, Ballycullen, received three years' detention while another accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, received a three-year suspended sentence.

The final boy, who can also not be named, has been remanded on bail and is due for sentence next month.

They all pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to violent disorder at Belgard Square West on October 20, 2006. Connors had seven previous convictions, while one of the others had three previous convictions and another had one.

Garda Padraig Murphy told Mr Garrett Baker BL, prosecuting, that the victim, Mr Philip King, was in hospital for six days and was in a full body brace for three weeks after he fell from the bus and landed on his back on a sheet of glass.

He had still not returned to UCD, where he was studying architecture, because this was the only bus available to him to get there and he didn't want to go on it again.

One eye witness told gardaí that he saw Mr King being attacked by seven or eight youths and he managed to pull two or three off the man. He then saw one of the group perform "a push front kick" and he heard the window on the bus shatter before Mr King fell through it.

Garda Murphy accepted that it was not clear from the CCTV footage on the bus who was actually responsible for pushing Mr King through the window.

All four accepted that they had hit Mr King but denied that they caused him to fall from the window. They described the victim as backing into the window in an attempt to avoid their punches.

Judge O'Donnell said the group were lucky they were not before the court on much more serious charges.

"This is the ultimate nightmare. To be set upon in civilised neighbourhood by a group of people acting like locusts. It's a frightening experience that one would think would happen in a more remote part of the world and not in Ireland," Judge O'Donnell said.