Galway man has sentence for unprovoked assault reduced on appeal

Galway Bay fm newsroom – A city man who left a bank worker in a coma for two weeks after an unprovoked assault has had his eight-year sentence reduced on appeal.
28 year old Dean O’Brien with a last address at Bishop O’Donnell Road was jailed for eight years in 2011 after he was found guilty by a jury of assault causing serious harm to Barry Mannion on William Street West, Galway, on December 28, 2009.
The Irish Independent reports that O’Brien had pleaded not guilty to counts of assault causing serious harm, assault causing harm and producing an article capable of inflicting serious injury.
There was evidence that O’Brien was driving a car with a number of passengers who had stopped to get takeaway food.
An altercation then took place between the passengers of the car and another man.
Mr Mannion, who up to this point had nothing whatsoever to do with the events, then approached in a peace keeping fashion.
O’Brien then landed a punch on Mr Mannion’s jaw sufficient to split his lip and lift him up from the ground, whereupon he fell backwards and suffered life-changing injuries.
The victim was left in a coma in a life-threatening condition and was later removed to a specialist unit in Beaumont hospital dealing with head injuries.
He has a permanent titanium plate in his head as a result of the assault.
Counsel for O’Brien, Mr Damien Colgan SC, this week said it was submitted that there was “no light left at the end of the tunnel” in the sentence imposed on O’Brien.
He submitted that the error in principle lay in the imposition of an eight-year sentence in circumstances of O’Brien’s young age and his expression of remorse for his actions.
Returning judgement, presiding judge Mr Justice Liam McKechnie said it could be reasonably assumed that the starting point was ten years, which was reduced to eight years to reflect what the trial judge said in his judgement about being anxious to leave some light at the end of the tunnel for Mr O’Brien.
Mr Justice McKechnie said the court found the offence warranted a “severe, lengthy custodial sentence” to reflect the court’s “strong disapproval” of this sort of behaviour.
However, he said the court would suspend the last 18 months of the eight-year sentence.