One punch attack left man brain damaged
This was planned, nothing spur of the moment
Raul Pop
AN apprentice carpenter left brain damaged after a late night single punch assault has told a court his life has changed beyond recognition because of his injuries.
Conor Mccormack, 30, was knocked unconscious when Raul Pop punched him in the jaw.
The 25-year-old and his two co-accused Cosmin Sandor, 24, and Vladut Bindea, 21, had followed the victim and his friends up Dublin’s O’connell Street on the night of November 3 last year.
Witnesses described hearing “a sickening sound” that sounded like a sliotar hitting a hurley when the victim’s head hit the footpath
Pop was jailed for five years, with the final two years suspended, for assault causing serious harm.
Sandor was jailed for two years and Bindea handed a two year suspended sentence, both for violent disorder.
Mr Mccormack said he had to take speech therapy and retrain how to eat and swallow. He said his girlfriend had to feed and bathe him and he had lost all dignity.
When he was told he may never fully recover from the brain damage, he said he wished he had died and he cried himself to sleep every night.
A COCAINE gamble by well known professional poker player Paul Carr has backfired and landed him in jail for two years.
Ten years ago, the 40-year-old was feted on The Late Late Show after winning €312,000 when he came second at the No Limit Texas Hold’em Paddy Power Irish Open tournament that year.
During his 2010 poker success, Carr managed to beat off competition from retired footballers Teddy Sheringham and Tony Cascarino, former Leinster rugby player Reggie Corrigan and snooker legend Ken Doherty.
However, Carr, of Hartigan Villas in Moyross, Limerick, is now behind bars after Judge Brian O’callaghan at Ennis Circuit Court imposed a three year jail term – with the final year suspended –for the sale and supply of €2,200 worth of cocaine on January 20, 2017.
Judge O’callaghan imposed the jail term after Carr’s luck ran out as a result of his ill-fated decision to attempt to transport the €2,200 worth of cocaine in his car to a late night Poker tournament at the Eglington hotel in Galway.
The judge stated the accused “comes before the court as a man of the world and is not shy of publicity.”
Judge O’callaghan stated: “Mr Carr is experienced in the world of professional poker. He is no innocent first time offender although he may be a first time offender in the strict sense of the misuse of drugs.”
Judge O’callaghan stated that Carr “knew exactly what he was doing”.
He added: “He bought the drugs from a person. He hid the drugs in his car. This was planned, there was nothing spur of the moment.”
Judge O’callaghan stated the offence has to warrant a custodial sentence and it would be a breach of duty not to impose a prison term.
On the night in question, en route to Galway on the M18, Carr was detected speeding by Gardai doing 125kmh in a 100kmh zone at Bunratty.
He was driving even though he was serving a disqualification from a drug driving conviction at the time and
Gardai seized the car. Five ziplock bags of cocaine containing 31 grams of the drug were found hidden behind a panel in the boot of the car.
Garda Seamus Lyons stated that Carr told officers he was supplying the cocaine to other poker players at the late night tournament and wasn’t going to charge them any money for it.
Counsel for the State, Lorcan Connolly, told the court Carr is a professional poker player of some success.
Garda Lyons stated that Carr told them that he could walk away with winnings of €10,000 or €20,000 at a time from late night poker tournaments.
The court heard Carr has 22 previous convictions, 17 relating to road traffic. In August 2011, Carr was stopped driving a car in Limerick where €300,000 was seized.
In a civil case in 2014, Judge Carroll Moran ordered that €242,230 of the monies be held onto by the State after ruling that it was the proceeds of crime.
No criminal sanction was imposed as it was a civil case.
Counsel for Carr, Brian Mcinerney, stated his client’s last offence before 2017 was 2011 for drug driving.
Gda Lyons agreed with Mr Mcinerney that Carr is not on the Garda radar concerning any other drugs offences or any other matter.
Mr Mcinerney noted that Carr has pleaded guilty to the offences and has done rehabilitation work on his cocaine addiction.
He added his client is not someone who is engaging in the retail sale of drugs but was supplying the cocaine to a relatively small circle.
Mr Mcinerney explained that Carr did not show up for two previous court appearances at Ennis Circuit Court concerning the cocaine offence in 2018 and 2019 “because he had his head in the sand”.
Judge O’callaghan also imposed a four year driving ban on Carr for driving with no insurance on the night in question.
JUDGE O’CALLAGHAN YESTERDAY