Call for longer sentence over attack
A former Newport hurler who was viciously assaulted with his own crutch just after leaving hospital has said the man who beat and mugged him should serve a longer jail sentence.
Seamus Troy, who is now living in Cloughjordan, said he sustained a broken eye socket, broken nose, 27 staples to the head and a broken bone in his neck in the attack off Brian Boru Street in Cork city on March 20th last year - just after leaving Cork University Hospital where he had undergone an operation.
Seamus said his attacker kept beating him with his own crutch until it broke and forced three coins down his throat. He later had to undergo an operation to remove the coins from his stomach and a separate operation to deal with the broken bone in his neck.
“He beat me 40 times over the head with my crutch and my eyes were closed for six weeks after the attack,” Seamus told this newspaper.
The 48-year-old father-of-four and qualified chef said the assault has had a devastating impact on him and his family. He has since being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and is unable to work.
“I don't leave home at all now,” he said. “Both I and my children have really suffered due to what happened. When my son came to the hospital to see me after the attack he didn't even recognise me.”
Seamus, who played hurling at intercounty level with Tipperary at underage levels, is now calling for sweeping changes in sentencing guidelines after his 26-year-old attacker was given five years in prison.
Stating that because his attacker will qualify for 25 per cent remission of his sentence, Seamus said the real sentence he will serve is just three years and nine months.
“I'm not happy with this sentence - it's not enough as the injuries I suffered were horrific,” said Seamus.
“He shouldn't even have been on the streets when he did this to me. There was a warrant out for his arrest when he attacked me, but the guards couldn't find him.”
When the case came before Cork Circuit Court last month a garda told the court that Seamus was found lying on the ground covered in blood following the assault.
The court heard that the assailant was spotted nearby in an intoxicated state and later admitted mugging Seamus and stealing his phone, rucksack and €80 in cash.
The court was also told that the attacker, who had 20 previous convictions including burglary and arson, had consumed a headshop drug which was known to have psychotic effects on users.
Sentencing the assailant to seven years in jail, but suspending the final two years, Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin stated that a vulnerable man just out of hospital should be mugged in such a heartless fashion was appalling.