A man has been sentenced to six years in prison for organising an assault on a then-17 year old girl which left her permanently blind in one eye.
Jack Cummins (21), with an address on Rossmore Road, Ballyfermot, Dublin, pleaded guilty in January to procuring the commission of the assault causing serious harm to Alanna Quinn Idris on December 30th, 2021.
Judge Pauline Codd handed down a sentence of seven years for procuring the assault, and suspended the final 12 months.
In her ruling, she said Cummins “was criminally responsible” for the assault.
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“It was he who initiated the violence, although he was unprepared to partake in it himself,” she said, adding that it was “a cowardly act” by the accused.
The court heard Cummins made two phone calls to his cousin, Josh Cummins (20), to organise the assault on Ms Quinn Idris which was carried out by four men in total.
She was struck in the face with the saddle of an electric scooter, which fractured her eye socket. She underwent emergency corrective eye surgery that night and has since had multiple eye surgeries. She also suffered a broken cheekbone and tooth.
Louis O’Sullivan, a friend of Ms Quinn Idris, was also injured in the assault.
The court heard that there was a verbal exchange between Mr O’Sullivan and Jack Cummins after all parties got off a bus on the Ballyfermot Road. The assault lasted one minute and ended when passers-by intervened.
Cummins was not physically involved in the assault on Ms Quinn Idris, but he did strike Mr O’Sullivan, the court heard.
Speaking outside the court after sentencing, Ms Quinn Idris said she hoped it would be the start of a new chapter for her but she did not believe it was a fair outcome.
“He got seven years with one suspended on probation, but this is the rest of my whole entire life,” she said. “I have no choice but to just cope and deal with it.”
She said she no longer has to keep coming back to court and stress about the families of her attackers “looking at me like I’ve done something wrong”.
Ms Quinn Idris said she was not the victim of a “random attack”, but had rather been harassed for years and years.
“This is based upon the culture we have in Ireland where boys and men can go around tormenting people for their own enjoyment,” she said.
She said she feels a responsibility to use her public platform to advocate on these issues.
“It would be a shame for me not to acknowledge it and speak out,” she added.
Judge Codd said Cummins was “highly reckless” and “wholly unjustified” for his role in the assault, in which Ms Quinn Idris “was completely entitled to defend herself”.
While he “was not involved in the exchange of blows” between the parties”, she said he “was the genesis of the entire situation”, in which the four attackers “showed no mercy” to Ms Quinn Idris and Mr O’Sullivan.
She said Cummins “did nothing to stop the situation” when “it was obvious that violence was intended, and indeed executed”.
Judge Codd noted that the passersby who intervened “must be commended for their decency and courage in stopping the violence”.
“Ms Quinn Idris has suffered greatly both physically and psychologically from this incident,” she said. “She has suffered life changing injuries and a deep psychological trauma.”
In March 2023, Daragh Lyons (21), of Weir View, Glenaulin, Chapelizod, received a 4½ year sentence for his role in the assault on Ms Quinn Idris.
In December of that year, Josh Cummins was sentenced to five years with the final two years suspended.
The fourth man involved in the assault, who is understood to be the person who struck Ms Quinn Idris in the face with the staddle of an electric scooter, is yet to be identified.
