A former Davis Cup tennis player and a university student who assaulted a Sligo librarian on Grafton Street, leaving him with serious head and facial injuries, have been sentenced to three years by Judge Donagh McDonagh at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Stephen Nugent (24), of St Werburgh's, Swords, who represented Ireland in the Davis Cup, and Dermot Cooper (29), of Fosterbrook, Stillorgan, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Barry Duggan on April 13th, 2003.
Their guilty plea came on day five of their trial last June after initially denying charges of assault causing serious harm.
Judge McDonagh suspended the last two years and nine months of their sentences, having taken into account their previous "clean records" and the fact that they are unlikely to come to Garda attention in the future.
He said he could not accept that Nugent, Cooper and his brother Seán, considering their height and athletic ability, were intimidated or put in fear of their safety "by one small man who was under the effects of alcohol".
He said the evidence of their "sniggering, celebratory jumping, whooping and punching the air" demeanour, as they were running from Lemon Street following the assault was that of "triumphant men having succeeded in overcoming a puny small man".
Although Nugent and Cooper had come voluntarily to the Garda station in the days following their attack, Judge McDonagh said he considered their prepared statements to be in some way "self serving". He said the serious and life- threatening injuries sustained by Mr Duggan could not be overlooked in "an effort to do justice to all sides in the case". He sentenced Cooper and Nugent to three years in prison which he said was the minimum he could give considering the gravity of the case.
Earlier, Sgt John Doyle told Luan Ó Braonáin, prosecuting, that Mr Duggan suffered severe brain and head injuries. He also had a broken jaw and eye socket and there were fractures to his head and skull. He was not discharged from hospital until May 8th, 2003, having been in an induced coma for several days.
He had to regularly attend his doctor afterwards and was under the continued care of a speech therapist, an occupational therapist and a physiotherapist until October 23rd, 2003.
Nugent and Cooper were last night committed to Mountjoy Prison but were immediately transferred to the semi-open training unit within the prison complex, writes Conor Lally.
A spokesman for the Irish Prison Service said space was at a premium in the prison and inmates deemed to pose a low security risk and who were drug-free were not being housed there.
Nugent and Cooper will have freedom to move around during the day, unlike the inmates in Mountjoy Prison who are locked in their cells for long periods. They will have bedrooms rather than cells, and will not be required to slop out.