A sitting of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that a man, who was caught on CCTV repeatedly head butting another man, was off his head on drugs at the time of the assault which took place in Dublin City Centre on the 15th of September 2021.
Giving evidence at a sentencing hearing before Judge Martin Nolan, Garda John Murphy said he was on patrol on Aston Quay when he was altered to the incident in which Bernard McDonagh and his partner, Marie Green, became involved in an altercation with the injured party.
CCTV evidence played before the court showed Green, who has previous convictions related to theft, speaking to the injured party who told Gardaí that he had been out on the town socialising at the time of the incident and was somewhat inebriated due to having a few pints.
Green approached the victim, stealing 20 euros from him and going through his pockets with the victim holding onto her during the ensuing scuffle.
McDonagh intervened, having been called over from the sidelines by Green, and proceeded to assault the man in what Judge Nolan described as a series of “escalating head butts”.
The court accepted that the series of head butts had been launched in efforts to free Green from the injured party who was holding onto her arm.
The court heard that McDonagh, who has 92 previous convictions, is a long term abuser of alcohol and “pills” and walks with the aid of a crutch due to the impact of his substance abuse.
The court heard that Garda Thomas McAvoy was able to identify McDonagh from CCTV gathered from the security cameras of a number of shops in the area including a Londis and Carrolls Irish Gifts on Westmoreland Street.
Green claimed that McDonagh was “possessive” of her and that she would not have stolen the money had she been on her own that evening.
A statement of hers read before the courts said, “I wouldn’t have done it if I was on my own Bernard is very possessive and very violent”.
The court heard that Green, who is a heroin user, grew up in care and was the victim of sexual abuse as a child.
She denied having made physical contact with the victim.
Pleading for leniency, her defence council said that the woman was making good progress with her life over the last few years.
The court accepted that the injured party had “scant memory” of the incident while Garda evidence said that the man was “distressed” and “upset” when Garda Murphy came to his assistance.
The court heard that the injured party sought medical attention although the extent of his injuries was unclear.
On the 18th of September, three days after the assault, McDonagh was arrested and conveyed to Irish Town Garda Station where he was interviewed under caution. He admitted that he was the man captured on CCTV although he denied allegations from the injured party that the man’s phone had been stolen.
He also denied that money was taken, saying he was “off his head on drugs” and apologising for what had happened.
On the matter of Green, whose previous convictions were almost exclusively obtained at a District Court level, Judge Nolan said that he would not jail her but that she must enter into a bond to keep the peace for the period of a year and lodge the sum of 100 euros with the courts.
The court heard that McDonagh, who left school at 12, is awaiting a hip replacement and suffers from issues relating to blood clots in his legs and is on blood thinners while suffering “considerable pain”.
Given his extensive list of previous convictions, Judge Nolan said he “deserves” to go to prison but took into consideration a plea from the defence that he be sent to Castlerea jail after the court heard that a previous stint there had done him good and that his appearance “improved dramatically” while there.
Sentencing McDonagh to one year in jail, Judge Nolan granted a recommendation that be held in Castlerea saying that he “must be punished” for his deeds commenting that McDonagh “overreacted” to the situation and that he was not satisfied that McDonagh would not reoffend.