Courts / Dublin / Report

Jail for 51-year-old man who attacked garda on Dublin street

Date
2016-07-18

Stage
Sentence

Primary locality
Dublin City

County
Dublin

Summary

Patrick Davis Snr (51), of Marrowbone Lane flats, Dublin city, was sentenced at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for two charges of assault causing harm to Garda Kieran Byrne and Brian Dunphy on Thomas Street, Dublin, on February 9, 2014. Davis Snr pleaded guilty to both charges. Judge Patrick McCartan imposed a three-year jail sentence, noting that Davis Snr used considerable and determined violence against the garda, who suffered a fractured eye socket. The court heard that the attack on Garda Byrne occurred after the accused and his son, Patrick Davis Jnr, had earlier assaulted the Dunphy brothers. Davis Jnr, who was sentenced last November to a suspended term of two and a half years by Judge Martin Nolan, had initiated the confrontation. Defense counsel Emmet Nolan BL argued that Davis Snr acted out of misguided loyalty to his son and in a state of drunkenness. The accused, who has 14 previous convictions including for assault on a garda, offered €600 in compensation. The judge rejected mitigation, emphasizing the severity of the injuries and the repeated identification of the victim as a garda during the sustained assault.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Jail for 51-year-old man who attacked garda on Dublin street. Charges or matters: two charges of assault causing harm to Gda Byrne and to Brian Dunphy on Thomas Street, Dublin on February 9, 2014. Procedural stage: sentence

When:

February 9, 2014 Incident
2016-07-18 Publication

Why: Davis Jnr was shouting and still acting extremely aggressively and the garda placed himself between the two groups of men in order to prevent another assault. CNI source report