Man jailed for assault on cyclist

A young Dublin man who kicked a Lithuanian cyclist in the face and fractured his jaw has been jailed for 18 months.

Garda Ronan O’Reilly said he and a colleague saw a shirtless Ian Finn (aged 20) chase the cyclist on foot to a Clontarf Road Spar shop and heard “a loud crack” as the assailant kicked his victim in the face.

Finn, of Casino Park, Marino, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting Mr Janis Anderson causing him harm in the early hours of June 30, 2008.

Gda O’Reilly told Ms Martina Baxter BL, prosecuting, that Finn has nine previous District Court convictions for road traffic offences but Finn gave evidence that someone else had submitted his name and address.

Finn told his counsel, Mr Luigi Rea BL, that he “can’t even drive” and was currently appealing the convictions.

Judge Katherine Delahunt said she accepted Finn’s evidence and was treating him as a man with a previously clean record.

Gda O’Reilly told Ms Baxter that he saw Finn chase Mr Anderson to the Spar shop, punch him, push him up against the wall and then kick him in the face when he got tangled up in the bicycle.

Gda O’Reilly said Mr Anderson, who was also drunk on the night and gave no victim impact statement because gardaí can’t trace him, was kicked unconscious but later declined to go in an ambulance called to the scene.

He attended hospital several days after the incident and underwent surgery to fix his fractured jaw.

Finn told Mr Rea he was sorry for what he’d done and explained he was “just very drunk” at the time.

Judge Delahunt said while she accepted this remorse, she wouldn’t view being intoxicated as an excuse for the “vicious” late-night, unprovoked attack.

Garda O’Reilly agreed with Mr Rea that there had been a problem with the way a local nightclub had been run at the time of the offence.

Mr Rea submitted that his client had never sought a trial in the matter, has no drink or drug problem and had been prepared to put aside his social welfare allowance as a token of remorse for his victim or charity.

Judge Delahunt said a custodial sentence was warranted in this case because Finn had proceeded to “attack in a most vicious nature someone who was not in a position to defend himself.”