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As the man was heavily intoxicated, he pulled the boy towards the house in the back garden, causing him to fall.
Judge John Hughes said the defendant had only himself to blame and had nothing to do with drinking because “no one forced him to drink”.
He adjourned the case pending a suitability report for community service. The man admitted assaulting the boy. Dublin District Court heard the incident took place in January 2021.
The defendant was having a barbecue with his partner and her son in the back garden of the house where he lived, with his partner also present.
The defendant pulled the victim towards the house, causing him to fall. As the boy was not injured, the charge was common assault, not assault occasioning bodily harm.
His lawyers said the man still had a very close relationship with the victim’s mother, who supported him in court. They did not want to make a victim impact statement.
The man, who has previous convictions for assault, public disorder and driving offences, had been in the boy’s life from a young age and they had a “very strong bond”, his lawyer said.
“This was a criminal act, the offence being that a lot of alcohol was consumed at the barbecue,” the lawyer said.
He said the incident was “essentially a vicious cycle” that culminated in something no one should have been involved in. “Unfortunately, intoxication was the culprit,” the lawyer added.
The defendant had children of his own and interacted with them regularly.
He worked as a delivery driver and youth football coach and said he “took responsibility for his actions” at every court appearance.
The situation was “quite bizarre” and the lawyer asked the judge to be as lenient as possible.
The judge said that although the mother did not want to speak to the court, the matter was “serious enough” for her to report it to police.
The defence lawyer clarified that it was not the mother who filed the report but the father, the ex-partner who was present at the time.
“He may say it was the drinking that caused it, but that’s not the case, no one put the drink in his mouth,” the judge said of the defendant. “The only person who was at fault was him.”
Judge Hughes said the defendant had consumed alcohol before “deeming it appropriate to assault a child”, which could be considered an aggravating factor.
The judge adjourned the case until September and said he also wanted to hear the defendants’ views on compensation.
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