A teenager who repeatedly stabbed another boy of his age with a broken glass vodka bottle after he refused to give him €2 for a bus fare has been jailed for 18 months.
The defendant has turned 18 since the vicious attack in the Waterpark area of Carrigaline in Co Cork in June of this year.
The attack attracted significant public attention when it went viral after it was filmed and put online.
Left for dead
Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard evidence from Detective Garda Declan Healy of Carrigaline Garda Station, who said that the youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, left the 17-year-old "for dead."
Det Garda Healy said the incident occurred shortly after 10pm on June 6th when the victim was approached by teenagers who told him to hand over €2 for a bus fare.
The youth declined to give them the money. A teenager not before the court punched him in the face and knocked him on the ground.
It was at that point the defendant got involved. The defendant picked up a glass vodka bottle and smashed it over the victim's head.
Stabbed with bottle
Judge Sean O'Donnabhain heard that he then used the jagged neck of the bottle to stab the injured party in the back while he was lying on the ground unable to defend himself.
Det Garda Healy said the boy was stabbed at least six times. However, thankfully he avoided long-lasting physical injuries.
The victim's mobile phone fell out of his pocket in the attack. The defendant fled the scene with it.
The court heard that another youth filmed the incident and put it online. Gardaí said the video caused a viral sensation with it being viewed as far away as in the United States.
The youth was subsequently questioned by Gardaí. When he was detained at Carrigaline Garda Station, the victim's mobile phone was found on his person.
Frenzied attack
In a victim impact statement the mother of the injured party said that they had been left devastated by the “frenzied” attack.
She said when she arrived at the scene she saw her son being transported on to a stretcher in to an ambulance. She said the scene resembled a crime shot from the show CSI.
"It was a needless and frenzied attack - it was devastating for my son and for our family. This was every parent’s nightmare. We believed our son was dead. Social media added another layer of hurt.”
She said that they had never looked at the video of the incident and had no intention of ever viewing it.
She said she felt sick with anxiety when her son and his other siblings were out of the house and not contactable by phone.
Haunted by the nightmare
She told the court that the family reacted with “horror and disbelief” when they were informed that a video clip of the attack had been shared on Snapchat. She stressed that the incident would forever haunt her family.
"We are haunted by the nightmare scene of our son lying in the back of an ambulance being bandaged and telling us he didn't do anything wrong. It will remain with us for the rest of our lives .”
Judge O’Donnabhain condemned the filming and sharing of the video.
"It is a lamentable sign. That we should have gone down to this low level.
"This assault was on a helpless victim who was lying on the ground. That some (other) idiot should have filmed it?"
Sentencing
He said that the defendant showed an extreme amount of violence for a man of his age.
"There was a considerable amount of violence. He had a victim on the ground. That he should have hit him with a bottle - and then stabbed him in the back with the broken bottle.”
The defendant arrived before the court on a signed plea of guilty to assault causing harm contrary to Section 3 of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.
Defence counsel Emmet Boyle BL said his client had left Cork following the incident after finding himself the subject of hatred. The youth has successfully engaged with support services and is very remorseful for his actions.
The youth, who has no previous convictions and has never been before the courts, wrote to the family of his victim to apologise for his actions. Judge Ó Donnabháin said the case merited a custodial sentence in spite of the youth of the defendant and his lack of previous conditions.
He jailed the young man for two and a half years suspending the final year of the sentence.
