KILLER’S PUNCH ATTACK
Irishman pleads guilty in Oz
A CONVICTED Irish killer has pleaded guilty to punching a man almost twice his age unconscious in a pub in Australia.
Patrick Farrell was jailed here back in July 2013 for three and a half years for an unprovoked assault which led to the death of 2 0 - y e a r- o l d student Andrew Dolan.
Kildare man Farrell made headlines Down Under in September when he was the subject of a police manhunt following the assault in the Sydney pub.
Farrell, 29, hit the 56-year- old man with a left-handed punch that knocked him unconscious in the beer garden in Sydney in November last year.
The violent thug was also allegedly involved in a knife attack that saw a man hospitalised with a severed ear. Police were still searching for Farrell in relation to the punching i ncident when they arrested him in his lawyer’s office on September 30.
Farrell pleaded guilty to the charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in relation to a punch incident in a Matraville pub in November last year.
His l awyer entered a guilty plea to that charge of assault
The doorman rushed to his aid
occasioning actual bodily harm at Waverley Local Court in Sydney on Wednesday, according to The Daily Telegraph.
‘I’m instructed to enter a plea of guilty. However, it is a matter where facts are yet to be agreed upon,’ Farrell’s l awyer said, according to the publication.
‘There is some CCTV which may help resolve facts.’
Video footage of the pub attack shows the moment a group of men congregate in the bar before the victim lands on his back and the doorman rushes to his aid.
Police allege there was a verbal argument between Farrell and the victim before the Irishman hit him with a punch that knocked him unconscious.
Farrell is also allegedly part of a group involved in an unrelated stabbing attack on fellow countryman Oliver Solan, 30, in a Randwick apartment block in Sydney’s east on August 29 of this year.
Mr Solan suffered a punctured spleen and severed ear before he was discovered in a pool of blood in the apartment corridor.
Farrell’s co-accused in relation to the stabbing are Irish nationals Patrick Earle, 23, John James Dunlea, 27, and Katie Aileen Murtagh, 26. Farrell, Mr Earle and Mr Dunlea are all charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm over the alleged stabbing.
Meanwhile, Mr Earle’s girlfriend Ms Murtagh is charged with aiding or abetting to wound a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. All four of the co-accused had their cases mentioned at Waverley Local Court on Wednesday. Their matters were adjourned to January 13, 2021. Farrell is due to be sentenced for the Matraville punching attack on February 3.
Farrell was jailed in Ireland for admitting the manslaughter of Andrew Dolan, who was beaten up in Mullingar on December 23, 2011. Farrell had delivered a final blow which caused Mr Dolan to fall and hit his head on the ground. He died in hospital ten days later.