Man jailed for 2 years for ‘merciless’ attack on man in Phoenix Park

By Sonya McLean

A man who was one of two men that launched a savage and “merciless” attack on a man sitting in a park with a friend has been jailed for 27 months.

Zbigniew Zadecki (46) of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm to the victim on Fountain Road in the Phoenix Park on April 23, 2020.

His accomplice in the assault is due to stand trial later for his role in the attack.

Zadecki, a qualified carpenter, has 22 previous convictions, the majority of which are for intoxication and public order offences, but also include possession of knives and theft.

The court was shown video footage of the assault, taken on Zadecki’s own phone, during which the attackers could be heard laughing and the victim could be seen bleeding heavily from his head.

Judge Martin Nolan described it as a savage attack during which the man was punched, kicked and stamped on. He said it was a “merciless assault” having viewed the video footage.

He accepted evidence that Zadecki told gardaí that the victim and his friend told Zadecki and his co-accused that they were gardaí and he also claimed that he believed the victim was a thief.

Judge Nolan accepted that there may have been “some provocation but the provocation is indeed minor and didn’t justify in any way this violent and vicious assault”.

He acknowledged Zadecki’s plea of guilty and the fact that he was an alcoholic and homeless but said: “It is up to him now if he wants to change his life”.

Garda Philip Earl told Monika Leech BL, prosecuting, that gardaí were alerted to the attack and met the victim, who was bleeding from his head and wearing one shoe.

He warned the court that the video was “very graphic” before he played it.

He said the victim later told gardaí that he had been at the band stand in the park when Zadecki and the other man approached them and stared shouted “junkies” at the them before they started to attack them.

He told gardaí that the men videoed him while they hit him with bottles and stamped on his head.

The victim was left with a ruptured eye and needed stitches in his head. There was no victim impact statement in court.

Zadecki was arrested that night and claimed that the victim and his friend had been pretending to be gardaí.

He then said he had just been robbed and he thought these two men were the thieves.

“I wanted to get even with the thieves. What I did was unnecessary, but I was very upset,” he told gardaí.

He acknowledged, after gardaí played the footage on his phone, that he had laughed during the video and he accepted that he had kicked the victim.

Gda Earl agreed with Karl Monahan BL, defending, that his client did say that the victims told him they were gardaí, but Zadecki said he didn’t believe them.

He acknowledged it was a very serious offence and his client was apologetic for it. Counsel outlined his client’s issues with homelessness and alcohol addiction.