A man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for an “unprovoked and unwarranted attack” on a social media influencer earlier this year.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Craig O’Brien (28), of Thomond Road, Ballyfermot, Dublin 10, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Charleen Murphy at the Grafton Capital Hotel, Dublin 2, on February 10 last. He has ten previous convictions, including two for assault.
Passing sentence on Friday, Judge Orla Crowe said the CCTV shown to the court was “absolutely shocking footage that came out of nowhere”. She said “Ms Murphy had no way of protecting herself as she was hit from behind”.
Judge Crowe said there was no history or animosity between Ms Murphy and O’Brien and described the attack as “unprovoked, unwarranted and terrible”.
The judge said while O’Brien was being interviewed by gardaí, he referred to Ms Murphy in “utter derogatory terms, a female who had done nothing to him”. She outlined the aggravating factors, noting this was one strike to the back of the head, which caused injuries to her face, his previous convictions and that this was an unprovoked attack.
Judge Crowe set a headline sentence of three years. She considered the following as mitigating factors: his early guilty plea, his engagement in education while in custody and the letters from the accused and his family members.
Judge Crowe handed him a sentence of two years and three months with the final nine months suspended for 18 months. She ordered O’Brien to place himself under the supervision of the Probation Services for 18 months.
Judge Crowe further ordered O’Brien to unfollow Ms Murphy on all social media platforms and not to follow her again or make any contact with her. He is also not allowed to come with 50 metres of Ms Murphy for five years post-release.
Blow to the head
The court heard that Ms Murphy is a social media influencer with many online followers. On the night in question, she went to the Grafton Capital Hotel to meet a friend for dinner and drinks.
On her arrival, she posted photos on social media, which was normal for her. Ms Murphy was sitting in a booth in the restaurant facing her friend when she felt a blow to the back of her head.
Ms Murphy’s head was propelled forward resulting in her forehead striking a glass on the table. Ms Murphy turned around and saw O’Brien, whom she knew of but had never met in person, walking away from her table. Ms Murphy was bleeding, and her friend called an ambulance, and the gardaí were notified.
Later on the night of the offence, O’Brien sent Ms Murphy a voice note on social media asking her, “how’s the head?”.
Garda Stephen McDonnell told Lisa Dempsey BL, prosecuting, that gardaí spoke with Ms Murphy at the scene, and she was in a position to identify O’Brien. She was then taken by ambulance to St James's Hospital where she received stitches to her forehead.
CCTV footage from the hotel was obtained by gardaí and played to the court.
Canada Goose jacket
Gda McDonnell said O’Brien was contacted and attended Pearse Street Garda Station the following day. A search warrant was issued for O’Brien’s home. Clothing was seized, including a Canada Goose jacket, which was visible on CCTV footage.
The court heard that during his garda interview, O’Brien said that “influencers were ganging up on him and harassing him, and they [influencers] deserved it”. He also referred to Ms Murphy as a “dumb b***h” and said “he felt bad for her, but she probably deserved it.”
Gardaí asked O’Brien if he had any mental health issues, and he replied that he took medication every day for psychosis. He was brought to Dublin District Court, where he was denied bail. He has been in custody since February 11th.
Ms Murphy read her own victim impact statement to the court and said, “I share a lot of my life online and live a very public life”.
She said: “This was never an issue until February of this year”.
She told the court that she had “a physical scar on her forehead, but that emotional scars don’t fade”.
Since the assault, she has suffered from nightmares, panic attacks and is “a shell of myself”. Ms Murphy said “not a day goes by that I don’t think of it” and hoped that “today justice can be served”.
Strange comments
Gda McDonnell agreed with Miska Hanahoe BL, defending, that her client came to the garda station straight away the following day when he was contacted. He agreed that O’Brien had made some strange comments during his interview, and Gda McDonnell told Judge Crowe that “some of what he said didn’t make sense at all”.
The garda agreed with counsel that O'Brien pleaded at the earliest possible stage.
Ms Hanahoe said that her client wished to apologise and said that he is not a danger to Ms Murphy and won’t contact her upon his release. She said it was clear that her client had a problem with aggression, which was linked to drugs that he began taking when he was 14.
She said that at the time of the offence, her client was in a drug-induced psychosis and genuinely believed that social media influencers were out to get him.
She said her client is engaging with a drug counsellor while he has been in custody. O’Brien stated in a letter to the court that “I am really sorry” and “I regret what I did”. His letter also stated that he was not taking his medication at the time of the offence.
Ms Hanahoe asked the court to take into account her client's early guilty plea, his remorse and that he doesn’t recognise the person that he was at the time of the offence.
