Victim to appeal €1.1m award for punch assault

A MAN who was left permanently brain-damaged after a single-punch assault outside a Dublin pub, is to appeal a €1.1million award from the State.

The High Court heard that Stephen Avery, 52, was the victim of an assault outside the City Arms Pub on Prussia Street, Dublin 7, in October 2008.

It had happened after he was involved in a ‘minor scuffle’ in the pub, and was asked to leave by a barman. He was then struck by another man, who was not involved in the first incident.

Risks involved in the appeal

His attacker punched him in the face, causing him to fall backwards and hit his head on the pavement.

The court heard Mr Avery was bleeding from the back of the head, and was diagnosed at Beaumont Hospital as having suffered a severe traumatic brain injury. He had surgery, and remained on a life support machine for over two weeks, before undergoing rehabilitation.

His senior counsel, Eoin McCullough, told the High Court that Mr Avery could now walk, but remained unable to manage his own affairs, and would require care for the rest of his life.

He said his client, who now lives in Lincolnshire, England, had been offered €1.16million by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal.

The tribunal is a State scheme which does not award general damages to victims of crime, but does award compensation for their expenses and losses. It has a total budget of €6.4million this year.

Mr McCullough said that while the offer was generous, he believed it could be increased to around €1.6million, if additional categories of care were taken into account.

But he acknowledged there were risks involved in the appeal. The original award made no discount for Mr Avery’s criminal past, which included convictions for burglary and handling stolen goods.

Mr McCullough said it was noted by the single member of the tribunal who initially ruled on the case that Mr Avery had ‘turned a corner’ and put crime behind him by the time of the attack.

However, he said it was open to the tribunal, at a three-member oral hearing on appeal, to take that criminal history into account and reduce any payment made to Mr Avery as a result.

He added that Mr Avery had already received €30,000 in compensation from the pub, which would be deducted from any award by the tribunal.

Judge Kevin Cross said: ‘The matter comes before me on an application for leave to reject the award and proceed by way of appeal.

‘...Mr McCullough indicates he is of the view that the award of €1.16million can reasonably be expected to increase to about €1.6million. That is a significant difference.’

He concluded: ‘I think it is in the best interests of the applicant to reject the award and proceed by way of appeal. I hope it can be undertaken as quickly as possible.’

In December 2010, William Scully, then aged 26, of Montpellier Park, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to recklessly causing harm to Mr Avery. It was reported at the time that Scully, who has no previous convictions, was identified on CCTV and arrested.

He told gardaí he ‘did not remember’ the incident and that he did not know why he hit Mr Avery.

He said he had been drinking in the pub all day watching football and ‘didn’t remember much of the day’.

Judge Patricia Ryan noted in sentencing that Mr Avery received ‘catastrophic injuries which will require him to have care for the rest of his life’.

She took into account that Scully had no previous convictions, was from a decent family and suffered a brain injury himself from a fall as a young child.

‘Mr Scully did not realise the severity of the injuries, but the court is taking into account the severe consequences,’ she said.

Judge Ryan said a custodial sentence was merited and imposed five years with the final two-and-a-half years suspended.