One-punch attacker ‘busted nose of a man he had known for years’

A Dublin man attacked a man he had known for years, punching him in the face, leaving him with a “busted nose” and black eye.

Brian McCann (39) set upon the victim on a city street in an “unexpected and unprovoked” one-punch assault that left the man bleeding from the nose, a court heard.

Judge John Hughes jailed him for three months after hearing McCann, who had psychiatric issues, was already “in the shadow” of a suspended sentence at the time of the assault.

McCann, with an address at Georgian Hamlet, Baldoyle, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to the man.

Dublin District Court heard that on February 24, 2022, at Belcamp Lane, Dublin 17, gardaí met the victim, who was visibly bleeding from his nose.

He said he had been punched in the face by the accused, who was known to him.

The assault was unprovoked and he had not seen McCann in many years, a garda sergeant said in evidence.

The accused had 42 previous convictions for offences including assault and threatening to kill or cause serious harm.

He was under a suspended sentence at the time of the latest incident but had not been convicted of anything since.

The assault victim was not in court but he provided an impact statement, which was submitted to the court.

Referring to the statement, McCann’s lawyer said the victim did not bear the accused “any ill will”.

McCann lived with his father, was unemployed and a man of limited financial circumstances, his lawyer said.

He had been intermittently employed over the years in jobs including factory work, construction labouring and carpentry.

McCann was a paranoid schizophrenic who was on antipsychotic and other medication.

He had been in acute psychiatry units in the past and he also had a history of chronic substance misuse, in particular, cannabis.

It appeared to have been a onepunch assault and not “a protracted inflicting of violence on the injured party”, the lawyer said.

He asked Judge Hughes for leniency. McCann, who had not been “in the right frame of mind” at the time of the assault, had apologised to the victim, who “would rather see Brian get the help he needs”.

The defence lawyer asked the judge to take account of the victim’s “particularly generous attitude” to the accused.

The injured party was “not in any way vindictive”, the lawyer added.

Judge Hughes said it was “an unexpected and unprovoked assault in the shadow of a suspended sentence”.

The victim had suffered “a black eye and a busted nose”, he said.