Girl spared sentence in connection with gang attack

A young woman, who helped pin a Chinese student against railings as he was set on by a gang of youths and head-butted, has been spared a custodial sentence.

The 18-year-old, a mother of one and a former heroin user, had pleaded guilty at the Children’s Court to assault causing harm to the 22-year-old Chinese national, at Mountjoy Square North, in Dublin, on August 18, 2007. She was a juvenile at the time of the offence.