The Central Criminal Court has jailed a man for unleashing a savage machete attack on a tourist who was visiting Ireland from France.
John Hogan (33) was sentenced to five and a half years for the assault which took place on Talbot Street on the 26th of November last year.
The Sunday World reported that the victim, who is originally from Moldova, was struck with the machete at least three times and was at risk of dying due to blood loss.
Hogan, who is of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm of the tourist after another man shouted that the victim was a “f**king immigrant”.
The court heard the accused has issues with alcohol and drug use and that he has 29 previous convictions at District Court level, of which several are for possession of knives, as well as theft and public order offences.
Sentencing Judge Martin Nolan said that the victim “was minding his own business” when Hogan “jostled and struck several times with a machete”.
He added that the implement used in the attack is “a serious lethal-type weapon”.
Nolan continued that the victim “lost a lot of blood, and he lost consciousness” as a result of the assault and “could have bled to death”.
“Luckily, no vital artery or vein was lacerated,” he added.
A headline sentence of eight years was set with Judge Nolan saying that, had the man died from his injuries, the intention threshold for murder would have been reached.
A Garda witness told the court that the man, who has lived in France for 17-years and had arrived in Dublin to visit a friend who had come in from Amsterdam, was struck with a 40cm blade, saying he had “never seen anything sharper,”.
The man blacked out during the immediate aftermath of the blows from the machete and awoke to find paramedics working on him.
He underwent surgery to treat two deep wounds on his right leg.
The blade used in the attack was later discovered in a city centre hostel.
Hogan, a father of five children, submitted a letter of apology to the court and is attending counselling.
His sentence was backdated to December 2023 when he was taken into custody.