A Ballyshannon man who left another man with serious injuries after a row that started over a pair of boxers has been given a suspended sentence.
Calum Ayres avoided being sent to prison after paying his victim, Jarlath Hegarty, €10,000 in compensation.
Ayres, 22, of Lawn Park, Ballyshannon was charged with assaulting Mr Hegarty and causing him harm at Church Road, Bundoran on November 7, 2021.
Last year, Ayres brought €5,000 to Donegal Circuit Court, but was told to double that sum by Judge John Aylmer, who called the incident an “appalling attack”.
When Ayres appeared again at Donegal Circuit Court, Ms Fiona Crawford BL, barrister for the State, confirmed that Ayres has not come to adverse attention since.
Mr Peter Nolan BL, barrister for Ayres, told the court that his client had brought an additional €5,000 to the court and the money was handed over to Mr Hegarty.
Noting that €10,000 had now been paid over, Judge Aylmer sentenced Ayres to two years in prison, but the entirety of the sentence was suspended for two years on condition that the defendant entered a bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for a period of two years.
At a previous court sitting, Garda Joanne Conway from Ballyshannon Garda Station told the court 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 said at the time. “I hate the way it happened. We could have talked about it considering we’re friends”.
Ayres was later charged in September 2022.
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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.
At the time, Ayres address the court and said: “I didn’t want it to come to this. I wish I could rewrite it. I am genuinely sorry.”
Mr Nolan said his client, who was now working in a saw mill, 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.”
After hearing the facts of the case, 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, adding 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 and gave him a year to come up with a further €5,000, which has now been paid to the victim.