A man who suffered critical head injuries in an alleged one-punch assault lay on a Dublin street at night for two hours until a passer-by called for help, a court heard.
David O’Loughlin, aged 39, with an address of Ripley Court, Talbot Street, Dublin, was charged with assault causing harm at 11.40pm on Monday at Foley Street in the north inner city.
The unemployed man who claimed he was about to begin a paid doctorate at Maynooth University was denied bail by Judge Michele Finan at Dublin District Court.
During the hearing, the defendant was forced to represent himself due to ongoing industrial action by solicitors over legal aid payment reforms.
He complained about breaches of his constitutional rights and a lack of legal representation.
Addressing the judge, he said, “I am disgusted at having no legal representation. I find it an egregious erosion of my rights.”
Judge Finan warned Mr O’Loughlin that he was choosing to apply for bail without professional representation.
She cautioned him about the risk of self-incrimination, stressing that a bail hearing was not the stage of the proceedings to litigate the case.
“I completely understand that,” Mr O’Loughlin replied.
Objecting to bail, Garda Micheál MacSuibhne cited the seriousness of the incident and alleged that the injured man was subjected to a one-punch attack, without physical provocation, causing him “to fall off the kerb and strike his head on the road”.
The court heard the victim suffered two bleeds on the brain, a temporal skull fracture, and a suspected injury to his vertebrae.
The court was told the critically injured victim remained on the ground for two hours until a passer-by discovered him and called an ambulance.