Jailed for “thuggish” attack

By Claire Henry

A Dublin man has been handed a three-year prison sentence for his role in a “thuggish” attack on a brother and sister in their home.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard Jordon Doyle (23), formally of Mountjoy Square, Dublin, pleaded guilty to two counts of assault causing harm to Nikita and Gareth Kenny at an apartment in Mountjoy Square on January 30, 2023.

He has 16 previous convictions, all of which are District Court matters, and include convictions for violent disorder, threatening and abusive behaviour, obstruction of a peace officer and possession of explosives.

Passing sentence today, Judge Pauline Codd said the defendant “intruded into the home of the injured parties armed with an iron bar”, which she said was the most aggravating factor.

Judge Codd said the injuries to Mr Kenny were “not insignificant”, and she would also consider the accused’s previous conviction for violent disorder as an aggravating factor.

Judge Codd set a headline sentence of four years for the assault on Mr Kenny and three years for the assault on Ms Kenny.

The judge said she must also consider the mitigating factors in this case including his early guilty plea, his personal circumstances, the contents of the letter from his mother and the close and significant losses the accused has had in his life and his youth.

After considering the mitigating factors, Judge Codd sentenced Doyle to three years in prison for the assault on Mr Kenny and two years for the assault on Ms Kenny.

Both to run concurrently and backdated to when he went into custody earlier this year.

Garda Shane McGrath told Diane Stuart, BL, prosecuting, that Ms Kenny, her brother Mr Kenny, and Doyle had lived in the apartment together for a period of time.

The Fr McVerry Trust owned the apartment.

Ms Kenny had asked her brother and Doyle to move out as she was trying to break free from her drug addiction.

Doyle moved out, but her brother remained in the apartment.

Gda McGrath said that on the morning in question, Ms Kenny was lying on the couch in the living room, and her brother was asleep in his bedroom.

She heard the front door open and saw two men enter the apartment and go to her brother’s room.

She then heard her brother shouting that he “had no money”.

The court heard that Ms Kenny ran into her brother’s room and saw Doyle and a co-accused standing in the room, with Doyle holding a metal bar.

Her brother was bleeding.

She tried to grab the bar from Doyle, and a struggle occurred.

The co-accused intervened, and Ms Kenny got hit on the head resulting in two lumps to her head.

Ms Kenny saw Doyle swing and hit her brother twice. She asked both men to leave, and they did.

An ambulance was called, and Mr Kenny was brought to the Mater Hospital, where he received approximately nine stitches.

Mr Kenny refused to cooperate with the garda investigation, and no medical records of his injuries were available to the court.

Ms Kenny did not require medical attention, but was sore following the incident.

Gardai seized a steel bar, and Ms Kenny identified that it was the bar which was used in the altercation.

Doyle has been in custody since the day of the offence.

Gda McGrath agreed with David Fleming, BL, defending, that the injuries to Ms Kenny were obtained during a struggle and were not intentionally or deliberately inflicted.

The garda agreed with counsel that his client pleaded guilty at an early stage and has drug addictions of his own.

Mr Fleming handed a handwritten letter into the court from Doyle’s mother, which outlined that he lost his father at the age of four months to a drug overdose.

Counsel said that his client wished to offer a sincere apology to the Kenny siblings, he understands that it was a “thuggish” act, and he apologised for it.

He said his client is a young man and a father to a young child whom he has been unable to see since he went into custody for the offence in January.

Judge Codd said, “his child should motivate him to do better and not enter a house with an iron bar”.

Mr Fleming asked the court to take into account the early guilty plea and asked the court to be as lenient as possible during sentencing.