Gezim Idrizi loses assault-causing-harm appeal

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Court of Appeal dismissed Gezim Idrizi’s appeal against his assault-causing-harm conviction on 27 November 2023; his original sentence was three years and nine months, with the final six months suspended for two years.

Idrizi argued that the DNA evidence should have been excluded because the defence had not been able to examine the extraction machine. The appeal judges rejected that ground, saying the machine assisted analysts and Sarah Fleming had personally analysed the DNA.

The court also declined to consider a challenge to the jury directions on DNA evidence because the alleged deficiencies had not been raised at trial.

Idrizi had been convicted of assault causing harm and acquitted of false imprisonment. The assault took place at GZ Security’s premises in Ballycoolin, Dublin 11, on 1 February 2016.