Prison for Tullow man who repeatedly punched teenager in the face
Judge Geraldine Carthy Photo: michaelorourkephotography.ie
A DEFENDANT who punched a teenager repeatedly in the face was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment when he appeared before Carlow District Court last week.
Judge Geraldine Carthy said that she would not have accepted jurisdiction over the case and would have sent it back to the DPP’s office for new directions if she had known the extent of the injuries that Jamie Curran (39) inflicted on the injured party, who was just 13 years old at the time of the offence.
Mr Curran, St Patrick’s Park, Tullow, Co Carlow was charged with assaulting the boy, causing him harm, at Pairc Mhuire, Tullow on 30 November last year.
A previous court sitting in October heard evidence of the incident that involved Mr Curran punching the teenager in the stomach, then lifting the boy up and continuing to punch him in the face. In a statement made by the injured party, he also alleged that Mr Curran grabbed him around his neck.
At the previous sitting, Judge Carthy, after seeing photographic evidence of the injuries inflicted by Mr Curran on the teenager, had adjourned sentencing so that a probation report could be prepared because of the seriousness of the case.
Last week, when the case was being finalised, defence solicitor Joe Farrell told Judge Carthy that Mr Curran had €3,000 in compensation for the injured party but that he “wasn’t trying to buy his way out of trouble”. He continued that the probation report noted that Mr Curran ‘demonstrated an understanding of the physical and emotional effect that the assault had on the victim’ and that he accepted the consequences of his actions.
Mr Farrell said that his client “made a monumental mistake” and that he must now “suffer the consequences”.
He added that he was not downplaying what Mr Curran did, but said that his client had a one-year-old baby that wasn’t sleeping well in his house at the time and that his “nerves were frayed” when the assault happened.
Before she sentenced the defendant, Judge Carthy noted that Mr Curran was remorseful about what he did and that he was sleep deprived when the injured party rang his doorbell on a number of occasions.
She also said that the aggravating factor in the case was the nature and seriousness of the assault on the teenager and that it had reached the threshold to merit a custodial sentence.
Judge Carthy then sentenced Mr Curran to nine months’ imprisonment and ordered him to compensate the boy. Recognisances were fixed in the event of an appeal.
