A MAN who set upon two men in a Tullow Street pub, kicking one in the head \u2018full force\u2019 as he lay on the ground, has received a five-year sentence, with the last 15 months suspended, at Carlow Circuit Court.<\/p>\n
Paul Duca (31), Castlewood Gardens, Pollerton, Carlow, who appeared before Judge Mary Morrissey via video link, had pleaded guilty to three counts of assault causing harm arising from two separate incidents: a melee outside McDonald\u2019s fast-food restaurant in Carlow town centre on 5 March 2025 and a double assault at The Barracks bar on Tullow Street on the night of 20 December 2025.<\/p>\n
The court heard that during the McDonald\u2019s melee, Mr Duca assaulted Fabio de Oliveira Monteiro, causing two injuries to the rear of his torso \u00e2\u0080\u0092 one requiring a stitch, the other three stitches.<\/p>\n
In the more serious matter, Mr Duca pleaded guilty to assault causing harm against both Michael Maher and Luke Donoghue at The Barracks. The court heard that following an initial confrontation near the bathroom area of the pub, Mr Duca struck Mr Donoghue with a closed fist, causing a soft tissue injury that required no medical treatment.<\/p>\n
He then moved to the seating area near the bar, where he and another unidentified man, who has since left the country, subjected Mr Maher to a series of punches. Brian O\u2019Shea BL, for the state, told the court that \u201cimmediately before being separated by security staff, Mr Duca kicked Mr Maher in the face when he was already in a vulnerable position\u201d. Mr Maher lost consciousness as a result.<\/p>\n
CCTV footage shown to the court captured the assaults, and medical records confirmed that Mr Maher suffered multiple fractures to the right side of his face.<\/p>\n
Garda Kenny, the arresting garda, told the court that Mr Duca initially showed \u201creluctance\u201d, but accepted he was the man in the coloured shirt seen on the footage.<\/p>\n
Prosecuting barrister Mr O\u2019Shea said the kicks brought the incident \u201cinto a different place \u2026 in terms of self-defence\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Maher, who was present in court, had previously given a victim impact statement describing how he spent the night in St Luke\u2019s Hospital, Kilkenny undergoing numerous x-rays and CT scans. Doctors considered operating on his facial fractures but opted instead to \u201callow natural healing\u201d. He also attended Waterford hospital amid concerns that his retina had detached.<\/p>\n
He required nine follow-up appointments, was unable to bend his head for five weeks, leaving him unable to work or drive and incurred costs of \u20ac885 in hospital expenses and \u20ac55 in diesel and parking.<\/p>\n
His impact statement described being left \u201cin a lot of pain, anxious, upset\u201d and uneasy in crowded places, no longer able to swim, play football or attend the gym. \u201cMy carefree nights out have changed for good,\u201d the statement read. \u201cIt was a night out that has scarred me forever.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Defence barrister Jane McCudden BL established through cross-examination of Garda Kenny that her client had co-operated with garda\u00ed regarding both incidents and had asked that his apologies be conveyed to garda\u00ed and to Mr Maher.<\/p>\n
Of the CCTV footage of the Donoghue assault, Ms McCudden said: \u201cIt seems something happens inside the bathroom that we don\u2019t have the benefit of seeing, then spills out into the hallway.\u201d She noted that the book of evidence described Mr Donoghue\u2019s injuries as \u201cvery minor\u201d, involving \u201csome bruising and swelling,\u201d and that he had declined the opportunity to give a victim impact statement.<\/p>\n
Ms McCudden also drew attention to a man in a white t-shirt \u201ccovered in tattoos\u201d, who, she said, was \u201claying considerable and multiple blows to Mr Maher\u2019s face\u201d and continued even after security intervened. Garda Kenny agreed, although he said that he believed the final blow was struck by Mr Duca, to which Ms McCudden noted a guilty plea had been entered in respect of that blow.<\/p>\n
The court heard that Mr Duca, who is currently serving a prison sentence, has 34 previous convictions, including 24 for theft and two for criminal damage, although none for violence, and that he was subject to a suspended sentence at the time of the December offence.<\/p>\n
In mitigation, Ms McCudden said both incidents occurred within a short timeframe during a period when Mr Duca was \u201centrenched in drug misuse\u201d and experiencing poor mental health. \u201cIt\u2019s not an excuse, just context,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She told the court that Mr Duca had endured a difficult upbringing, having moved to Ireland from Romania with his mother when he was 17 after being told he would attend school. Instead, he was made to work for a criminal group at the direction of his mother\u2019s partner and was \u201conly allowed to leave the accommodation to commit thefts\u201d. His mother, he said, had no choice but to become involved in crime herself.<\/p>\n
He and his mother eventually left the situation with the help of his partner of 12 years, with whom he has a son, and she also helped him to secure legitimate employment.<\/p>\n
Ms McCudden said her client had completed an overdose prevention course, a relapse prevention recovery group and an anger management course and that a probation report described his conduct in custody as \u201cexemplary\u201d, affording him enhanced status and full engagement with education and rehabilitative activities \u00e2\u0080\u0092 \u201ccompelling evidence of genuine rehab\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Duca, appearing in court via video link, intended to bring \u20ac2,000 to offer as compensation to Mr Maher, acknowledging through his barrister that the sum was \u201cby no means enough\u201d but that he would continue to gather further compensation.<\/p>\n
Judge Morrissey noted that the state had not been put to the trouble of a trial, although Mr Duca had declined to give a statement, with his guilty plea entered \u201con the cusp of a trial\u201d as the jury was being sworn in. She found \u201chigh moral culpability\u201d in the McDonald\u2019s incident, noting a melee of that kind \u201cwould have the effect of putting ordinary like-minded individuals in fear\u201d.<\/p>\n
On the assault on Mr Maher, she said Mr Duca \u201cset upon\u201d him and \u201cas he fell to his knees and as the bouncers approached, he proceeded to kick him in the face full force\u201d, leaving him in \u201cenormous pain\u201d and turning his Christmas \u201cupside down\u201d.<\/p>\n
She noted the assaults on 20 December had occurred while Mr Duca was on bail and that intoxication was a factor, although no weapons were used and there was no evidence of premeditation. She also had regard to the probation report\u2019s assessment that Mr Duca was \u201cat moderate risk of reoffending\u201d but showed \u201cintention to change\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Duca received a total sentence of five years and one month for the three assault offences, with the last 15 months suspended for a period of three years on conditions that included continued engagement with addiction services and community counselling, with part of the sentence running concurrently to his current sentence and part consecutively.<\/p>\n
\n Funded by the Court Reporting Scheme\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A MAN who set upon two men in a Tullow Street pub, kicking one in the head \u2018full…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60],"class_list":["post-591473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}