Seán Flood pleads guilty to assault causing harm

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

Seán Flood pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting Leah Fay and causing her harm. The proceedings were reported on 9 March 2017.

The assault took place on D’Olier Street on 16 May 2015. Fay, then 18, intervened in a row between Flood and her male friend to stop her friend being hit. Flood pushed her to the ground and punched her when she got back up, the court heard. The incident took place amid a rolling fight between groups of young men after a football match.

Fay told the court that her jaw had been broken in two places and steel plates inserted. She said she had ongoing pain and treatment and had become withdrawn, depressed and anxious about going out.

Judge Gerard Griffin remanded Flood in custody until the following Tuesday, when he would decide whether to sentence him then or later. Defence counsel Anne Marie Lawlor asked for sentencing to be adjourned so Flood could finish a degree programme that summer.

Lawlor said Flood had recently been released from prison for previous offending, had not consumed alcohol for a while, and drank heavily on his birthday before becoming involved in the fight. Flood apologised in court, and Lawlor said he had brought €4,000 to offer Fay as a token of remorse.