Jailed for unprovoked attack on 16-year-old boy

A man who attacked a 16-year-old boy with a baseball bat in an unprovoked attack has been jailed for 18 months at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

The court heard that the child was sitting on the steps of an apartment complex texting a friend when Anthony Byrne came out of his house and started hitting him full force in the head with the bat.

When the boy tried to reason with him, Byrne continued to strike him in the head, legs and arms, until the boy’s finger was broken and he felt he was going to die, the court heard.

Byrne (28) of Camden Lock, Ringsend, Dublin 4, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm and production of an article in a communal area of his Ringsend housing block on January 4, 2022.

At a hearing yesterday, Judge Orla Crowe said it was an “absolutely unwarranted attack” which had had a “long-lasting impact” on the child.

She said the aggravating factors included that Byrne had attacked a child who offered no resistance and had struck the boy even as he was leaving the scene.

She sentenced Byrne to two years but suspended the final six months because of the efforts Byrne was making in his rehabilitation.

At an earlier hearing, Garda Niamh Letsome told Monika Leech BL, prosecuting, that the 16-year-old boy had been sitting on the steps of the apartment complex texting a school friend who lived there to come out and meet him.

Byrne came out of his house and proceeded to hit the boy at least four times in the head at full force, the court heard.

When the child asked Byrne why he was hitting him and attempted to reason with him, Byrne continued to strike him in the legs, arms and head, causing the boy to think he was going to die.

Byrne struck the boy twice more from behind as he limped out, but he managed to hail a taxi home to south county Dublin.

The court heard that the taxi driver grew concerned for the upset child who cried the whole way home and told him to call the guards.

Gda Letsome said when the boy reached home he went into his bedroom in a state of shock and locked the door.

His father noticed blood on the wall from the boy’s finger where he sought to balance himself on the stairs and called the fire brigade when his son refused to open his bedroom door, the court.

The fire brigade crew forced open the boy’s door and sent him to St Vincent’s Hospital, where he was treated overnight for crush injuries of the left middle finger and swelling in the lip and face.

He later required surgery on his broken finger, the court heard.

In a victim impact statement heard previously, the teenage boy said he still suffers fear, worry and stress and is afraid of going out and being among people.

He said he has a headache that never goes away and doesn’t like being out and about in crowds as he constantly checking to see if people are holding things.

Byrne has three previous convictions including possession of drugs and drug-driving, for which he was fined and disqualified from driving, the court heard.

The court heard that gardaí identified Byrne using high-quality CCTV and that he acknowledged responsibility for the assault.

Defence counsel said Byrne, a father-of-two, accepts that it was an extremely inappropriate reaction to hit the child.

The court heard that Byrne brought the sum of €2,000 to court as a token of his remorse, which Judge Crowe ordered to be paid to the child’s mother.

She also ordered that the baseball bat is to be destroyed.