A “ringleader” in the serious assault of a man who had part of his ear cut off has been sentenced to eight and a half years in prison.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Jack Quirke (24) of St Teresa’s Gardens, Donore Avenue, Dublin 8, pleaded guilty to section 4 assault of intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to another on August 1st 2018.
He has 27 previous convictions, all of which are District Court matters and include convictions for assault, theft, violent disorder, violent behaviour in a garda station as well as driving offences.
Aggravating factors
Judge Martin Nolan said the aggravating factors include the serious level of violence; that the accused was a guest in the injured man's house, the serious and extensive level of injuries and the fact the injured man has been left with a disfigurement.
Judge Nolan said: “I am aware that the accused was only 19 years old when he committed this offence, and he took a trial date which he did not appear for and was arrested on foot of a bench warrant and later pleaded guilty.”
The judge said this was a Section 4 assault, for which the maximum sentence open to the court is life in prison. He placed the offence in the middle to high range and set a headline sentence of 11 to 12 years.
He said that one of the co-accused has been sentenced to seven and a half years for his part in the assault, but he described Quirke as one of the “ringleaders” in the assault.
Judge Nolan said he must also consider the mitigating factors, which were his guilty plea, the remorse shown, and a serious road traffic accident which left Quirke with serious injuries.
Judge Nolan sentenced Quirke to eight and a half years in prison, backdated from when he went into custody on this matter.
Detective Garda Sarah Keogh told Sinead McMullen BL, prosecuting, that in the early morning of August 1st 2018, the injured man was at home in his bed asleep when he got a call from his daughter, who asked if she could stay the night in his house and bring some friends with her.
Det Gda Keogh said there was a mixed group of males and females, and the four males were unknown to the injured party. They continued drinking and had brought bottles of vodka with them.
One of the four men fell asleep, and Quirke decided to shave his eyebrow off. The man woke, and a fight began. Quirke said the man could shave his head “to get even”.
The court heard that Quirke told the rest of the men that if they wanted to be in his gang, they all needed to “shave their heads”. The injured party then asked everyone to leave, including his daughter. His daughter and the other females left, but the young men refused to.
Quirke and another man held one of their friends down on the injured man’s bed and tried to shave his head. The man was cut and bleeding, and the injured party told them to leave him alone.
It was at this point that Quirke and the others turned on the injured party. Quirke hit the victim in the face with a vodka bottle and split his lip. Quirke ordered the others to join, and one hit the injured party on the head with a vodka bottle.
The court heard that Quirke told one of the men to get a scissors and said he would show them “how to cut someone up”. The injured party was then held in a sitting position, and Quirke began to cut his ear off with the scissors.
The injured party was still being hit while this was happening. Quirke also ordered the others to take part in the ear cutting. A second pair of scissors was then produced, and the injured party was stabbed in the body by the group.
The court heard that the man was then brought to the bathroom and forced into the bath, which was then filled with water. Quirke forced a phone charger into the injured party's mouth and forced the cord down the man's throat. He was also struck with the toilet cistern.
Stabbing
The court heard that the man was stabbed with a broken vodka bottle and scissors in the head, legs and chest. During this assault, the injured party passed in and out of consciousness. Quirke also told the injured party that he was “going to die”. One of the other men said, “I have never killed anyone before”, with Quirke replying, “I will show you how”.
The injured party managed to leave his house at about 9am. A neighbour was sitting outside her house and saw the injured party collapsing on the ground. He was covered in blood, which his neighbour described as “gushing out of him”.
The woman called an ambulance. A second neighbour came to help and saw that the injured man was missing part of his ear and said, “It looked like he was dying”.
A short time later, three of the four men, including Quirke, entered a shop on Patrick Street in Dublin. A shop worker described them as covered in blood and described them as looking “odd”.
The shop assistant told them that the off-licence was closed and not open until 10.30 am, but he was scared as the men were covered in blood, so he gave them some bottles of WKD. One of the men tried to show him something in a matchbox, but he walked away.
Quirke was not present when the three other co-accused went to a nearby hostel where a caretaker found part of an ear. The gardai were then called. A search warrant was issued for Quirke’s home, and he was arrested and detained. DNA was taken from Quirke, which matched DNA found on scissors at the scene.
Quirke told gardaí that he had been at the house and had hit the accused but had left and gone to a friend's house. He said that when he returned to the house, the injured party was missing his ear.
A victim impact statement was handed into the court but not read aloud.
Det Gda Keogh agreed with Seamus Clarke, SC, defending, that the guilty plea was late but was of value, especially to the injured party who did not have to give evidence.
The garda agreed with counsel that his client had put himself at the scene during interview but had lessened his involvement.
Mr Clarke said his client had been in a serious car accident a few months after this assault and suffered serious injuries. Counsel said his client has a history of self-harm and mental health issues.
Mr Clarke asked the court to give credit for his client's guilty plea and take into account his lack of maturity, and his mental health issues. He urged the court to be as lenient as possible when sentencing.
