Pair punched and kicked woman in wheelchair

TWO men who punched a female wheelchair user in the face, and kicked her, knocking her to the ground, have been jailed.

The attackers, Darren Rowe, 22, and Eoin Greene, 23, have 60 previous convictions between them.

Garda Brian O’Neill told the court that the victim, Mandy Kennedy, became a wheelchair user after a spinal injury some years ago.

On the day of the assault she had left her home to go to a local shop when she overheard insults being directed at her by the two men.

Greene kicked her legs and taunted her about her wheelchair use while Rowe tried to prevent her from moving away from the two men, Garda O’Neill said. Greene then punched her in the face, and Rowe delivered a number of blows to her face and upper body. Garda O’Neill said Ms Kennedy was knocked to the ground and an ambulance was called.

She was treated for a suspected fractured eye socket in hospital.

Ms Kennedy described the attack as ‘gratuitous violence against a vulnerable person in a wheelchair who tried to get away but could not’. She read a victim-impact statement and said she had suffered constant headaches, sought the services of a psychologist and endured major anxiety as a result of the attack.

The court heard Rowe, of Oliver Plunkett Road, Monkstown, Co. Dublin, has 26 previous convictions, while Greene, of Dunedin Terrace, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, has 34.

They both pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm to Ms Kennedy outside her home at Meadowlands Park, Monkstown, on November 21, 2017. Judge Karen O’Connor sentenced Rowe to three-and-a-half years in prison with 12 months suspended, and Greene to two-and-a-half years in prison.