A MAN who was one of a group of youths who viciously set upon two friends and threatened them with a knife in the Temple Bar and Dame Street area of Dublin has been given a three-year jail term.
Aaron Brophy (20), South Circular Road, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to three charges of assault causing harm, violent disorder and production of a knife on July 29th, 2009 and December 7th, 2009.
Brophy has 27 previous convictions including public order, criminal damage, theft, handling stolen property and assault.
Brophy and a group of youths kicked and punched the two men after they refused to give them a cigarette. The group threatened to “stick them in the kidneys” with a knife and followed the friends to continue the assault after they both managed to escape by running into oncoming traffic.
The gang later followed one of the men into a pub after the bouncer had let him in when he sought refuge because he claimed to be in fear of being stabbed.
They continued to attack this man and his friend, who had followed him in to help, and Brophy threatened them again with a knife. He was caught on CCTV flicking open the knife, running his finger across his throat and pointing at one of the men. He was still in possession of the knife when gardaí arrived on the scene.
The second assault was witnessed by the security guard of a nearby convenience store.
The victim had no recollection of the incident when he woke up injured in hospital.
The security guard was able to inform gardaí that the man had been hit with a canister in the face after he fell to the ground.
Brophy was identified as a culprit following a detailed description from the witness who recognised him from hanging around the local area.
Judge Tony Hunt handed down a four-year concurrent sentence. He suspended the last 12 months on strict conditions.
The judge noted Brophy was a user of head shop drugs which he said were “a very big problem for gardaí”. “This kind of carry on cannot be easily tolerated,” said the judge.
The judge noted Brophy had “a very difficult background” and “was out of control at the time”.