Student punched, punched, kicked and stamped on another man 250 times in attack in Cork city

A STUDENT who punched, punched, kicked and stamped on another man 250 times in a 20-minute attack in Cork city center was today jailed for four years.

Judge Jonathan Dunphy recalled that the video recording, which was played during the test, was so violent that most people in the courtroom were forced to look away from the screens.

At the sentencing hearing at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Dunphy said it was nothing short of a miracle that the injuries were not life-threatening.

Darragh McLoughlin, 22, aged 23 of Richmond Hill, Cork, was sentenced to six and a half years in prison, with the final two and a half years suspended.

The judge recalled a section of video played in court that lasted just over a minute, using the victim’s own phone that also contained audio of the violence: “He orders him to put his hands down so he can kick him in the unprotected skull. I counted 14 kicks to the head in that… You can see him removing some of the injured man’s clothes. He leaves (momentarily) and returns to continue the assault.”

More than 50 of the blows consisted of kicks to the face.

“The total number of punches, kicks, kicks or stamps amounted to 250,” prosecution lawyer Emmet Boyle said of the 20-minute CCTV period of the incident.

Multiple fractures

The judge said it appeared to begin with a calm conversation and interaction between the parties before escalating into a brief physical altercation outside the nightclub.

The defendant believed that his phone had been stolen and that there was some history of bad blood between them, as the defendant had been assaulted a year earlier by a group associated with the injured party.

The victim suffered multiple fractures to his right eye socket, fractured nasal bones and was left with double vision and what was described as an ongoing deformity.

Later, when shown CCTV of the attack, the accused accepted he had engaged in animalistic behaviour.

During a 77-second video recording made by the attacker with the victim’s phone, the man on the ground with a bloody face is heard moaning and a voice is heard: “Look at you, you are a disgrace.” The attacker also took off the injured man’s pants and shoes.

McLoughlin admitted assaulting and causing serious harm to a man in Paul St, Cork, on October 18, 2022, as well as stealing the victim’s iPhone 7; The entire incident began some distance away, at 1:15 a.m. that date, outside the Secret Garden nightclub in Rearden’s. .

Victim Impact Statement

In her victim impact statement, read by Detective Garda Joe Crowley, the victim said it was without a doubt the worst day of her life and she was still trying to fill in the gaps in her memory of what happened. He still has nightmares and flashbacks. He said he found it extremely frightening to see the state of his face in the hospital, adding: “I still don’t fully recognize myself.”

He said it affected him mentally and physically, from the time he got up each morning until he went to sleep at night, and would affect him every day of his life. He said it had also deeply affected his family.

Lead defense attorney Tom Creed said there was some history between the parties. He said the defendant had been taking antidepressant medication that night following a suicide attempt the night before and that he unfortunately combined alcohol with medication. Senior counsel said there were extensive character references which painted a different picture of the accused, including one which stated that the accused was consumed by guilt and was deeply remorseful.

McLoughlin presented to the courts compensation of 10,000 euros for the injured party.