Suspended sentence for kickboxer who broke student's jaw

A champion kickboxer who broke a student's jaw because he wrote down the registration number of a car has been given a one-year…

A champion kickboxer who broke a student's jaw because he wrote down the registration number of a car has been given a one-year suspended sentence.

Paul Saunders (27) pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting Mr Mark Kane outside a Leisure Complex in Tallaght on December 13th, 1195. The court heard Saunders is serving a seven-year sentence for supplying drugs.

Det Garda Joe McLoughlin told Ms Mary-Ellen Ring, prosecuting, that Mr Kane and another student had been drinking in various pubs on December 12th.

Early in the morning of December 13th, they went to a leisure centre to get food. They were stopped by two bouncers but Mr Kane and his friend tried to cajole their way into the centre. The bouncers refused and Mr Kane moved down the road. His friend was still talking with the bouncers when Saunders pulled up in a car.

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Mr Kane saw the three men standing around his friend and wrote the number of Saunders's car on his arm. A bouncer alerted Saunders, who followed Mr Kane and punched him in the face.

Det McLoughlin said that when he arrived, Kane was unconscious and was taken to St James's Hospital, where he stayed for over a week. The bouncers gave no assistance to gardai but Saunders later made a verbal admission.

Mr Patrick Marrinan, defending, said Mr Kane had been told there was a private function in the centre and had no business writing down the number of Saunders's car. The defendant was willing to pay £2,000 compensation.