Young man has assault sentence suspended on appeal
A young man who punched and repeatedly kicked a man in the head during a violent incident in a Dublin residential garden has had his three-month prison sentence replaced with a suspended term after a succesful appeal.
Clayton McKeever (21) with an address at Errigal Road, Drimnagh, Dublin had pleaded guilty in the District Court to assault under section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997 and violent disorder under section 15 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act, 1994.
He was given a six month custodial sentence suspended for two years on the violent disorder charge, while he also was sentenced to nine months imprisonment with six months suspended for the assault charge. This left him with an effective jail sentence of three months.
Garda Jason O’Carroll told the District Court Appeals Court today that gardai received a report of a physical altercation involving several people in a garden on Errigal Road in Drimnagh on June 12, 2023.
He said that the injured party later made a statement of complaint saying he had been involved in a dispute with the mother of McKeever. The witness said the injured party named Clayton McKeever as a person who assaulted him.
Garda O’Carroll said that gardai examined CCTV footage of the incident, which he said showed a physical fight between the injured party and McKeever’s mother. He said it also showed McKeever arriving on the scene.
Garda O’Carroll said that the CCTV showed McKeever punching the injured party while he was on the ground and kicking him in the head three times. He said that the incident lasted 50 seconds.
The court heard that the injured party went to hospital for his injuries and was discharged the following day.
Defence counsel for McKeever, Anna Bazarchina BL, told the court that McKeever, who was 19 years old at the time, had gone to bed early on the night of the incident as he was working the next day.
She said he was later told that his mother was being badly assaulted in the garden.
She said when he arrived, he said that he saw that his mother had been assaulted and intervened by punching and kicking the injured party in the head.
Ms Bazarchina said that the District Court judge ordered a probation report be made and that an option of restorative justice was suggested by the probation services. She said that McKeever was not able to fully comply with the option of restorative justice, as he was working full time and his sentence of three months imprisonment was imposed.
She said that McKeever is now working full time and is expecting a child with his girlfriend.
Garda O’Carroll told the judge that he has known McKeever for a number of years, that he’s always very easy to deal with and that his actions were very out of character for him.
Ms Bazarchina said that McKeever had expressed remorse to the victim, his neighbours, his mother and the gardai for his actions.
She said that the probation services had put him at a low risk of reoffending and that he has not come to garda attention since the incident.
Judge Christopher Callan said that this was a serious, significant assault that involved the injured party being punched 12 times. However, he accepted that McKeever’s actions were very out of character and that he is at a low risk of reoffending.
Judge Callan decided to suspend his sentence in its entirety for a period of two years on the condition that McKeever keeps the peace and continues to be of good behaviour.