A 32-year-old Somali man who smashed a bottle over the head of a man who intervened when he followed two 18-year-old sisters along a Dublin street has been sentenced to four years and four months in prison.
Shando Alfa (27), of no fixed address, appeared before Judge Elma Sheahan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. He was sentenced on three counts of assault causing harm, arising from an incident on Dame Street in the early hours of 4 April this year.
Prosecuting counsel Tessa White BL, aided by Garda Colm Carroll, said Gardaí responded to an incident at about 2:30 am involving twin sisters who were 18 at the time, and a man who came to their aid, who was 32.
The court heard the sisters had been at the Workman’s Club and left at about 2:10 am to catch the late bus home. While they waited at a pedestrian crossing on Dame Street, Alfa rubbed against one of the twins’ shoulders and then linked her arm and walked with her. She did not like it but went along to “deal with it” because the bus stop was close by.
He then tried to get on the bus with her, and when she said no, her sister told him to “go away”.
Ms White described how Alfa “became aggressive”, and one sister recorded part of the encounter on her phone as he walked with his arm linked with her twin in front of her. She described the language he used as “uncomfortable”.
The man, who was out with friends, heard the sisters “screaming” and witnessed Alfa following and touching them. He pushed Alfa away and told him to leave them alone, the court heard.
Alfa began to attack him “frantically”, hitting him over the head. A broken Jameson whiskey bottle was recovered from the scene.
He blacked out and was bleeding from the head. He woke up to find his couch “covered in blood” and went to Connolly Hospital, where glass was removed from the top of his head, and he received four staples. The court heard the incident had “a significant negative impact on him”. He did not provide a victim impact statement.
One of the sisters told Gardaí she pushed Alfa to try to get him off the man, and he grabbed her by the hair, pulled her to the floor and punched her in the face with a closed fist. She suffered a deep cut to her hand.
The other sister described how Rebecca “all happened very fast”. She felt what seemed like a punch and only later realised she was bleeding from her head.
Ms White said that the sisters took two buses home afterwards. Both provided victim impact statements which were not read out.
CCTV footage was reviewed, and Garda Carroll identified Alfa. He was arrested at about 3:20 am on Dame Street and detained at Pearse Street Garda Station. He was initially unfit for questioning, and when a solicitor arrived, he made no comment.
After this, he was brought to the Criminal Courts of Justice and has been in custody since.
Alfa has 20 previous convictions, all from the District Court. They include public order offences, theft, possession of an offensive weapon, criminal damage, violent behaviour in a Garda station and a failure to appear before the courts.
He was on bail for several of these matters at the time of the Dame Street attack, and received a conviction under Section 6 of the Public Order Act very recently. The court heard he spent time in custody between April and June on this offence alone.
The court was played audio from the footage, in which the man can be heard shouting “Walk a-fucking way now” and “Get the fuck away from her” while the sisters can be heard screaming and telling Alfa to “fuck off”.
Defending counsel Oisín Clarke said the man could be heard saying he was going to “knock him the fuck out” if Alfa did not walk away. He argued that the man had approached his client first and accepted that Alfa pushed him back, which sparked what followed.
When Mr Clarke suggested that his client “wasn’t getting the picture”, due to “a mixture of cultural difference, intoxication and language difficulties,” Garda Carroll said that the girls had made it very clear that they wanted him to go away.
Garda Carroll said that the victims’ described to Gardaí how Alfa’s demeanour was becoming progressively more aggressive, and that the audio showed the women were very clear that they wanted him to leave.
The court heard Alfa had a “tough upbringing”, is a drug user and was homeless at the time. He moved “across Europe” before arriving in Ireland, with Mr Clarke describing his client as being “wanted” by “certain people in Somalia”.
Mr Clarke said that his client was living “homeless in a tent” in Dublin at the time and that he had lived a “nomadic” lifestyle around Europe which included a stay in a psychiatric institution in Germany.
Clarke said it was not “an attack out of the blue” and that Alfa’s reaction was “illegal and unlawful”. He said he completely accepted that the sisters were uncomfortable and that they wanted him to leave.
Mr Clarke said that at the time of the offence he was “in very bad shape” and that there had been “multiple reports of people living in tents being attacked because of where they were living and where they came from.”
He turned to alcohol, and in December 2025 began using crack cocaine. He was on “a cocktail of drugs and alcohol” and street tablets, he said.
Mr Clarke said Alfa had spent time “on 23-hour lockup” and had received numerous threats in custody. There had been “a degree of publicity”, he said, making reference to an assault on his client in custody.
He told the court that a deportation order is in place after his client’s asylum claim was refused, and that he will be removed from the country when he finishes his sentence. Mr Clarke said his client made the claim in February 2025.
Judge Sheahan countered, saying that Alfa had pleaded guilty and that no argument of self-defence was made
She said she had considered photographs of the injuries, the probation report, a forensic psychiatric report, the victim impact statements and the CCTV footage. She noted the maximum sentence for each charge is 10 years in prison.
Judge Sheahan said the offending was a “significant escalation” and cited the use of a broken bottle, the fact that Alfa was on bail at the time, and the “physical and psychological” harm caused.
The sisters were minding their own business and out for the night enjoying themselves, she said, adding that they have been left with lasting anxiety, issues sleeping and a lack of trust.
She placed the offending at the upper end of the mid-range.
Judge Sheahan said Alfa deserved a degree of credit for his signed plea and remorse. Under the plea, she said, a reduction of up to 30% was of some significance.
On his personal circumstances, she said he had a difficult life and had “endured torture at the hands of others”.
He does not know his father, his mother is dead, and he does not know where his brother is
She noted a forensic psychiatrist’s report, produced for the defence, which referred to symptoms “of a possible or emerging psychiatric condition.”
Clarke said it was not “an attack out of the blue” and that Alfa’s reaction was “illegal and unlawful”. He said he completely accepted that the sisters were uncomfortable and that they wanted him to leave.
Mr Clarke said that at the time of the offence he was “in very bad shape” and that there had been “multiple reports of people living in tents being attacked because of where they were living and where they came from.”
He turned to alcohol, and in December 2025 began using crack cocaine. He was on “a cocktail of drugs and alcohol” and street tablets, he said.
Mr Clarke said Alfa had spent time “on 23-hour lockup” and had received numerous threats in custody. There had been “a degree of publicity”, he said, referring to an assault on his client in custody.
He told the court that a deportation order is in place after his client’s asylum claim was refused, and that he will be removed from the country when he finishes his sentence.
Judge Sheahan countered, saying that Alfa had pleaded guilty and that no argument of self-defence was made
She said she had considered photographs of the injuries, the probation report, a forensic psychiatric report, the victim impact statements and the CCTV footage. She noted the maximum sentence for each charge is 10 years in prison.
Judge Sheahan said the offending was a “significant escalation” and cited the use of a broken bottle, the fact that Alfa was on bail at the time, and the “physical and psychological” harm caused.
The sisters were minding their own business and out for the night enjoying themselves, she said, adding that they have been left with lasting anxiety, issues sleeping and a lack of trust.
She placed the offending at the upper end of the mid-range.
Judge Sheahan said Alfa deserved a degree of credit for his signed plea and remorse. Under the plea, she said, a reduction of up to 30% was of some significance.
On his personal circumstances, she said he had a difficult life and had “endured torture at the hands of others”.
He does not know his father, his mother is dead, and he does not know where his brother is
She noted a forensic psychiatrist’s report, produced for the defence, which referred to symptoms “of a possible or emerging psychiatric condition”
The court imposed an overall sentence of four years and two months, which is to be backdated to last April to account for time already spent in prison.