Man sentenced to eight months for ‘unprovoked attack’
Judge Geraldine Carthy
A 21-YEAR-OLD trainee jockey has been sentenced to eight months in prison for an assault that left his victim with a fractured eye socket during Carlow’s Rag Week celebrations in 2023.
Eoin Middleton of Birr, Co Offaly was convicted and sentenced at Carlow District Court on 3 April following a guilty verdict delivered in December 2024.
At the December hearing, the court heard that the assault occurred on Tullow Street, Carlow in the early hours of 20 February 2023, when the victim, Sebastian Swiderski, was sitting on a bench outside the Metro Grill between 2am and 3am.
Mr Swiderski told the court he had asked a nearby group for a chip, after which Mr Middleton, whom he didn’t know, threw a chip at him. When Mr Swiderski threw it back, Mr Middleton approached and punched him in the face, fracturing his eye socket.
During sentencing on 3 April, Judge Geraldine Carthy noted that the victim impact report – heard on 2 April – was “quite stark” and took into account how the assault had also affected Mr Swiderski’s mental health.
Despite Mr Middleton bringing €1,150 to court as compensation, including for medical expenses, Judge Carthy said she was “not fully satisfied of the remorse shown to this court”.
The judge described the incident as “an unprovoked attack” that was at “the upper end of seriousness in this court”, adding that it “meets the threshold of custody”.
Mr Middleton, who is currently working in the UK as a trainee jockey, was granted fixed recognisance with a €500 own bond, which allows him to formally lodge an appeal against the severity of the sentence.
