A homeless man who is originally from Romania appeared before the Circuit Criminal Court charged in relation to breaches of Section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997.
Alin Bujor (23) pleaded guilty to assaulting retired chartered surveyor John Hume (77) who was returning books to the Ilac shopping centre library in July last minutes before the offence took place.
Bujor walked directly in front of Hume and stumbled over the elderly man’s foot at which point he “roared” something to the injured party which “sounded aggressive”.
The victim told Bujor to leave him alone and went about his business, the court heard.
Hume saw the defendant looking at him a short time later and was told “I’m waiting for you.”
The court heard that Bujor waited for the old man and, when he exited the library, struck him in the face, as Hume passed him making no eye contact, causing him to fall and hit against a wall, the impact of which fractured his clavicle.
Hume was “in shock” and felt pain in his shoulder after he was struck in the face, the court heard.
Gda Kim Flood of Store Street Garda station gave evidence that the injured party had a red eye and a bloody nose after he was struck.
The accused was nowhere to be found, she said.
An ambulance was called which conveyed the elderly man to the Mater Hospital where the fracture to his shoulder was discovered.
Gda Flood gave evidence of Bujor’s arrest which took place approximately four months later on the 9th of October at 12:30 when a man was seen on Henry Street, Dublin wearing a dark Halloween mask who was identified as Bujor.
As Gardaí spoke to the man they became aware that he was Bujor who had been identified from CCTV of the incident four months prior.
When he was arrested, the accused had a blue sock filled with sharp pieces of broken glass tied around his ankle which he said he used as a weapon for his own safety.
Prosecuting counsel, Ms. Staunton told the court that the accused had admitted to “slapping” Mr. Hume and that he has four previous convictions, two for possession of knives and two for theft.
A short victim impact statement was submitted to the court.
Bujor’s defence counsel, Mr. Maguire said that his client had assaulted Mr. Hume “without justification” and that during the course of his interviews, “A lot of the answers given by him didn’t make sense”.
The court heard that Bujor had claimed he believed the elderly man to be about 35 years of age.
Maguire said that Bujor had an “extremely difficult upbringing” and that his mother had left him to move to Italy where he later joined her and his father who eventually split up.
At a certain point in his life someone “came into his life and made attempts to have inappropriate contact with him,” Maguire argued, saying that this experience had led Bujor to start using cannabis when he was twelve. Since then he has used cocaine and other substances, he said.
Pleading for leniency, he acknowledged that his client’s actions amounted to a “particularly nasty crime”, but said his actions were caused in part by his “addictions” and “homelessness”.
When Judge Nolan inquired where the accused would reside when he leaves jail, Mr. Maguire said he would live with family members in Drogheda.
Ms. Staunton advised the court that the maximum sentence for the offence was 10 years.
Considering sentence, Judge Nolan said that the injured party had been “punched in the face” which caused him to fall where he “struck a wall and broke his clavicle”.
He said that this had caused “some difficulty since” as the victim was born in 1948.
Judge Nolan said that Bujor had a “sad upbringing”, a difficult life, and was probably suffering “some mental illness”.
He said there “could be a paranoid reason” why the accused thought Mr.Hume was 35 and “was a threat or an enemy” but that his record of conviction was not “too serious”.
He said he was “not sure if he’s a danger” to society and that he had been “behaving reasonably well” up until the assault, but that he “deserves a prison term” for his “unprovoked attack”.
He sentenced Bujor ro three years in prison with the final fifteen months suspended on conduction that he be of good behaviour and engage for a period of one year with the Probation Services.
The sentence is to be backdated to the 9th of October.