A violent criminal with more than 80 convictions, who punched and kicked a man after he "honourably" intervened in a street row, has had his three-year jail sentence reduced by nine months at the Court of Appeal.
Judges at the three-judge court noted that the victim was slashed with a knife, but said John McDonagh (31) was not responsible for that injury and had walked away from the assault when the blade was produced. They said his level of culpability was therefore reduced as he had engaged only in punching and kicking and retreated when the assault escalated.
Attack
McDonagh, of Shangan Road, Ballymun, Dublin was jailed in 2019 after pleading guilty to assault causing harm to Saurjan Syergaz at St Benedict's Gardens, North Circular Road, Dublin in May 8th, 2017. His sentence hearing heard that Mr Syergaz intervened in what he thought was a row between McDonagh and his partner Donna Dineen (24).
Mr McDonagh kicked and punched Mr Syergaz but walked away before Ms Dineen slashed Mr Syergaz in the stomach and stole his wallet.
Dineen, of Cedar House Hostel, Dublin, was jailed for four years after pleading guilty to assault causing harm and to producing a knife and robbing the man’s wallet.
At the sentence hearing Judge Melanie Greally accepted McDonagh had played no role in stabbing the victim, who has since returned to Mongolia. But she said he kicked and punched him in an “extremely nasty” attack.
“[Mr Syergaz] intervened for the most honourable of reasons for what he thought was a violent argument between the accused and his partner,” the judge said.
'Horrific slash wound'
At Dineen’s sentence hearing, Garda Conor Mackey told Tony McGillicuddy BL, prosecuting, that Mr Syergaz left a trail of blood from Dorset Street up North Circular Road, ending in a pool of blood at St Benedict’s Garden from what gardaí described as his “horrific slash wound”.
Mr Syergaz was out socialising that night and as he walked home past the Mater Hospital, he heard a woman shouting. He said he saw a woman arguing with “a big guy” and walked over to help.
He said that both the man and woman hit, punched and kicked him before he fell to the ground. The woman then came back and inflicted a 25cm stab wound before taking his wallet.
Mr Syergaz said he did not know how many times he had been punched and kicked. He got up and started to walk home. A plain clothes garda stopped him and discovered blood was dripping from his clothes.
Dineen and McDonagh were identified from CCTV and from an interaction with gardaí in the Mater hospital earlier that evening.
Mr Syergaz had been living in Ireland for 13 years prior to the assault. He did not give a victim impact report.
Reduced sentence
At today's appeal Mr Justice John Edwards, sitting with President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, reduced McDonagh's sentence to two years and six months with the final three months suspended.
Mr Justice Edwards said there was evidence that McDonagh is making attempts at rehabilitation and is engaging with an addiction counsellor.
He further noted that the court had received a positive letter about McDonagh from Father Peter McVerry.
