A judge sentencing a man for an attack on "an innocent bystander" in Dublin's Temple Bar has described the area as a violent, post-apocalyptic no-go area where people are unsafe.
Judge Pauline Codd made her remarks while sentencing the 25-year-old to four years for assault causing harm to a man on Bedford Row.
Jordan Maguire, of no fixed abode, had pleaded guilty to the offence on November 1st, 2022, and to the production of a can of cider in the course of the assault.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was shown CCTV footage of Maguire punching, kicking and stomping on the man as well as beating him with a cider can during what his own barrister described as barbaric and savage behaviour.
Garda Michael Walsh testified that a different man had initially assaulted the injured party but that this had not been caught on CCTV. Maguire then became involved and was captured on footage carrying out the assault in the doorway of a shop.
The court heard that the injured party had no idea why it had happened.
Garda Walsh told Emer Ní Chúagáin BL, prosecuting, that Maguire was sleeping rough in Dublin city centre at the time, no longer being welcome at home. He was on bail at the time.
He had more than 50 other convictions, including for robbery, a threat to kill, criminal damage, possession of knives, as well as two assaults causing harm committed since this incident. He is currently serving a sentence of three years and nine months for those assaults.
Oisín Clarke BL, defending, said this was a very brutal attack on the victim.
He noted that his client’s first ever offence was at the age of 21, two years before this assault. He pointed out that it was highly unusual for someone to come before the courts for the first time at 21 and then commit a litany of offences.
He explained that it followed the death of his mother and his subsequent abuse of drugs and alcohol, leading to his grandmother asking him to leave their home.
“He did not deal with his grief in the appropriate fashion,” he said.
“He got involved in a dispute that had absolutely nothing to do with him,” he said of this offence.
The judge described the violence as mindless and senseless.
Mr Clarke agreed.
“His behaviour was barbaric and savage,” he said.
He said his client is due for release in January 2027 and asked the court not to add to his lengthy sentence.
Judge Codd said that she has heard assaults described but that the visual effect of seeing somebody being punched and stomped on via CCTV rendered it more visceral.
She pointed out that Maguire had left the scene and returned with a cider can, which he used to beat down on the injured party’s head.
She said he was lucky not to be before the court on more serious charges.
“One wonders in terms of the atmosphere in Temple Bar because the court sees levels of violence meted out there by groups and gangs of young men,” she said. “It seems that Temple Bar is becoming a violent post-apocalyptic place. It’s shocking to see it, that people can’t be safe down there. It makes it a no-go area for people.”
She said that there had to be a general deterrent against “instinctive vicious assaults on innocent bystanders”.
She commented on how Maguire had dealt with his grief.
“Sadly, young men don’t deal with these things with appropriate counselling,” she said.
She imposed a four-year prison sentence but suspended the final six months provided he attended counselling in relation to his addiction and grief trauma issues.
