A Ballyshannon man who left another man with serious injuries after a row that began over a pair of boxers has been told to stump up another €5,000 for his victim.
Calum Ayres has been given a year to pay the money to Jarlath Hegarty in order to stay out of prison.
Twenty-one-year-old Ayres, of Lawne Park, Ballyshannon, was charged with assaulting Mr Hegarty and causing him harm at Church Road, Bundoran on November 7, 2021
Ayres brought €5,000 to Donegal Circuit Court for Mr Hegarty, but has been told to double that figure after what Judge John Aylmer called an “appalling attack”.
Garda Joanne Conway from Ballyshannon Garda Station told Ms Fiona Crawford BL, for the prosecution, that the men were at a party earlier in the night and “everyone was drinking and getting on okay”.
The injured party went into a bedroom and was looking around for his boxers. He had jeans on, but was not wearing boxers as he went to leave, the court heard.
As he was attempting to find the item of clothing, Ayres was said to have entered the bedroom, shouting “you were going through my bag” and began hitting Mr Hegarty.
A female who was present attempted to separate the men. Mr Hegarty was subsequently brought to Sligo University Hospital and had an x-ray and a CT scan as he “couldn’t see much”. The court was told that Mr Hegarty sustained two fractures to his right eye, a fracture to the other eye and nerve damage to his gum.
Ayres was arrested in February, 2022 and interviewed by Gardai. Ayres made admissions and said that there had been an argument. He alleged to gardai that Mr Hegarty had squared up to him and he believed that he was going to hit him.
Ayres was said to have sent Snapchat messages to Mr Hegarty following the incident. In one message he told the victim: “Now I feel like a bollocks, like”.
During the interview, the defendant told gardai that he couldn’t remember the Snapchat messages, but was “probably apologising”.
“I think I learned my lesson,” he told the gardai. “I hate the way it happened. We could have talked about it considering we’re friends”.
Ayres was later charged in September 2022.
In a victim impact statement, which he read in court, Mr Hegarty recalled being out for the night and was subjected to an “unprovoked attack”. He said he was punched and kicked in the head several times. Due to the amount of alcohol he had taken, he was unable to defend himself.
“I remember being punched heavily and kicked heavily in the face,” he said. After getting home, he said all he wanted to do was retire to his room to relieve the pain to his face and his front teeth,
He said he suffered from shock and became fearful of mingling with people. He told the court that he was in continuous pain for three or four months after the incident despite being on pain killing medication.
Mr Hegarty said that he was still undergoing treatment and hoped to reach a reasonable recovery in the future. He said he was affected emotionally, suffered from depression and lost confidence.
He was unable to return to a job as a waiter in a restaurant, but has since found employment as a general labourer.
“I no longer have a social life,” Mr Hegarty said. “I have lost quite a number of friends and I am a loner who choses to remain at home. It will take some time before I can put the member behind me.”
Mr Hegarty said that Ayres only came to offer what he said was an “insincere apology” after Gardai took action. He said he was still fearful of meeting Ayres in public.
Put in the witness box by his barrister, Mr Peter Nolan BL, Ayres said he “never meant that harm”. “I didn’t want it to come to this. I wish I could rewrite it. I am genuinely sorry.”
Mr Nolan said his client took issue with the victim, who he believed was stealing from his bag. He said the Probation Service placed Ayres at a low risk of reoffending and said his client is now in employment and abstinent from alcohol.
“He expresses deep remorse and shame,” Mr Nolan said. “He admits that he acted inappropriately.”
Mr Nolan said Ayres admits that he acted inappropriately, but has been deemed as suitable for community service.
“He has learned his lesson,” Mr Nolan said, asking Judge Aylmer for an “opportunity” for his client who he said would not come before the court again.
Mr Nolan told Judge Aylmer that his client had borrowed €5,000 and would give it to Mr Hegarty as a token of remorse. He said Ayres has started working in a saw mill in recent weeks.
Judge Aylmer said that what precipitated the “appalling attack and appalling overreaction” was that Ayres was under the impression that Mr Hegarty was going through his stuff.
“He received multiple blows and very heavy blows,” Judge Aylmer said. Judge Aylmer said that he was satisfied that Mr Hegarty was entirely innocent when he found himself the victim of the attack.
He said the incident was very much on the mid-range of such offending and, before considering mitigation, merited a starting point of three years in prison.
He said it was “very worrying” that Ayres has been convicted of a subsequent section 3 assault.
Judge Aylmer said that Ayres was cooperative with gardai which was to his credit.
Judge Aylmer said Ayres had proffered a “very tardy apology” to what was “a very, very serious assault”.
He said there seemed to be a “self-serving” element to the apology, which coincided with gardai wishing to speak to him, raising a question of how genuine the apology was.
The guilty plea, added the judge, was deserving of an appropriate reduction.
Judge Aylmer told Ayres that he should consider himself lucky to be getting a chance. The prison sentence was reduced to one of two years.
However, the Judge adjourned the matter for a period of 12 months to allow Ayres gather up a further €5,000 to give to Mr Hegarty. If that sum is paid, Judge Aylmer said he would impose a two-year sentence, the entirety of which would be suspended for two years upon Ayres entering a bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for two years.
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