Dublin man jailed for 'brutal' unprovoked city centre assault with bike saddle

Isabel Hayes

A criminal with a history of violence who beat a man about the head with a bike saddle in an unprovoked and “brutal” Dublin city centre attack has been jailed for two years and nine months.

Patrick Byrne (27) of Cooleven Close, Cloverhill Road, Dublin, pleaded guilty to one count of assault causing harm to the 33-year-old man at Westmoreland Street, Dublin 2, on October 15th last year.

The court heard the victim in the case was left with a scar to his forehead after Byrne attacked him in an entirely unprovoked encounter as the man was walking through town at 9pm on the evening in question.

Byrne has 36 previous offences, including three for assault causing harm, as well as attempted robbery, drugs, and threat to kill. He received a suspended six and a half year sentence in 2020 for attempted robbery.

Sentencing him at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Monday, Judge Orla Crowe said Byrne “has a tendency to violence”.

“This was a senseless, brutal attack on a man who was out minding his own business, socialising with a friend,” the judge said.

She noted that while the victim was left with a physical scar, “It is the sheer safety and peace of mind that is taken from the injured party”.

She sentenced Byrne to two years and nine months in jail and backdated it to when he first went into custody.

Garda Stephen McDonald told Aideen Collard BL, prosecuting, that the victim was walking across O'Connell Bridge on the night in question when a group of young men started shouting at him and telling him he owed them money.

He took refuge in Supermac’s on Westmoreland Street and, when the group appeared to have calmed down, he went back outside to try and reason with them.

The court heard the victim did not know any of the men and tried to tell them this. At this point, Byrne hit him twice over the head with a bike saddle, causing cuts to the man's forehead and lip.

Gardaí were called to the scene and the victim was taken to hospital for treatment. After looking at CCTV footage of the incident, gardaí identified and arrested Byrne just over an hour later around the corner on Aston Quay.

In a victim impact statement read out by counsel, the man said he is now wary and vigilant when he goes out and does not go in town much any more. “Every time I look in the mirror I see a scar on my forehead,” he said.

David Fleming BL, defending, said his client had carried out an “unprovoked and vicious assault” and there was no excuse for it. He said Byrne's position was that this was a “case of mistaken identity”.

He said his client had a history of drug abuse since he was a teenager and that he wished to apologise unreservedly to the injured party.

Prosecution counsel sought leave to re-mention the case, noting the issue of the offence possibly being carried out while Byrne was on a suspended sentence may need to be dealt with.