Pair jailed for unprovoked group attack on Afghans

TWO men have been jailed for their part in an unprovoked attack on three Afghan nationals, including a 13-year-old boy.

The teenage victim has since left the country because ‘he doesn’t feel safe here’, the court heard.

Joseph Connors, 22, and John Connors, 20, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to violent disorder in Ballinteer on May 5, 2016. Garda John Healy told Derek Cooney BL, prosecuting, that three males from Afghanistan had been cycling in Marlay Park in south Dublin and were on a cycling lane along a road when men began shouting at them from an adjacent car.

The car, driven by John Connors, and containing Joseph Connors and two other men, pulled in.

Several men got out and confronted the three Afghan males. Statements such as, ‘What are you doing in my country?’ and, ‘What have you done to my f ***** g family?’ were shouted at them. A man – who was not before the court – punched one of the adults in the head. When the victim tried to defend himself, the other three men from the car began attacking all three Afghans.

Gardaí obtained footage from a passing Dublin Bus’s CCTV and several of its passengers who recorded the incident on their phones.

The footage shows Joseph Connors, of Daltree Place, Ballycullen, Dublin, aiming two kicks at a man who had been knocked to the ground. It also shows John Connors, of Ballyogan Grove, Carrickmines, Dublin, knocking one man to the ground with a punch, then knocking the teenager to the ground with a punch and kicking him while he was on the ground.

The four men fled in their car. One of the Afghan nationals sustained a broken nose, on which he has had several operations, none of which was covered by a medical card.

Sarah-Jane O’Callaghan BL, defending, said her client Joseph Connors had been told that a child from his halting site was being bullied by the ‘Middle Eastern family’. Garda Healy said there was ‘no evidence whatsoever’ supporting this claim.

Ms O’Callaghan put it to Garda Healy that Joseph Connors had not been racially motivated to attack the males. Garda Healy agreed that he ‘doesn’t know him to be racist’.

Judge Cormac Quinn imposed sentences of three years on both men, with 18 months suspended.