Sentence adjourned for bouncer who admits assault
A bouncer who admitted assaulting a customer he had turned away at the door of Angel’s lap-dancing club for being drunk, has had his sentence adjourned again at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Raymond Murphy (aged 43) of Susanville Road, Drumcondra pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Mr Oliver Scally at the corner of Fitzwilliam Square and Leeson Street on July 6, 2005.
Judge Donagh McDonagh put the case back to allow Murphy to be assessed for suitability to carry out community service and to allow him to consider medical reports.
Garda James Curtis told Mr Michael Bowman BL, prosecuting, that Mr Scally said he had tried to gain entry to Angels lap dancing club where a bouncer told him he had had too much to drink.
Mr Scally told him he thought he could talk his way in and said he might have put his hands on the shoulders of the bouncer, which he accepted was a stupid thing to do.
He said he had meant it in a playful manner, but accepted he should not have done this. He then became scared by the expression on Murphy’s face and ran down the street.
Garda Curtis said Mr Scally told him that Murphy ran down the street after him and he ran across the road and slipped. He said Murphy was on top of him and he did not remember much until he came round on the road where a taxi had stopped.
The taxi driver told gardaí that Murphy was the prime instigator of the violence but said he had seen another individual engaged in the assault. This taxi driver then went with gardaí to Angels where he identified Murphy, who was arrested.
Garda Curtis said Murphy accepted he had assaulted Mr Scally, who was taken to St James’s Hospital where he was diagnosed with bruising to his face, a laceration to his eyebrow and a fracture to his cheekbone.
Mr Luán Ó Braonáin BL, defending, said that what the victim in the case had described as a playful attempt to touch the cheeks and shoulders of Murphy had been described by his client as a whack to the side of the face, leaving his nose bloodied.
He said there were some reports to back this up.This action provoked Murphy into a state of anger and rage but he accepted he had gone "totally over the top" in the way he went about assaulting Mr Scally, and had acknowledged this in his interview with gardaí. He said Murphy had pleaded guilty as soon as the case came to the court.
Mr Ó Braonáin said Murphy had brought €5,000 to court as compensation but that Mr Scully had indicated he was not interested in receiving it.
Dr Francis Kelly, Murphy’s GP, told Mr Ó Braonáin that Murphy was suffering from depression aggravated by stressors in his life such as the suicide of his brother and the break-up of his marriage.
He said Murphy had not displayed any violent tendencies to him but he had "feelings of regret and resentment that he was not progressing in his life as he had hoped".
Ms Evelyn Taylor, counsellor and psychotherapist, told Mr Ó Braonáin that Murphy appeared to have a "victim mentality" and was "simmering like a pressure cooker". She said he was emotionally illiterate but had expressed to her that this incident "was a serious error of judgement on his behalf".
