By Jessica Magee
A man who suffered cataclysmic injuries after a single punch from his former best friend two years ago has said he has lived a “horrific nightmare”.
Aaron Ryan was 23 years old when his former friend Jamie Tyler punched him in the head after an altercation, knocking him to the ground and causing a major bleed to the brain.
Tyler (27) of Ashington Rise, Navan Road, Dublin 7, was sentenced to two years in prison for assault causing serious harm to Mr Ryan on February 8, 2022.
Passing sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday, Judge Martin Nolan said it was a tragic case and that “Mr Ryan’s dreams and expectations of life had been destroyed,” as well as his mother’s dreams and expectations for him.
“The effects on Mr Ryan have been significant and severe, and the injuries he sustained could be termed close to catastrophic,” said Judge Nolan.
The judge said that as best he could discern, Tyler punched his then-friend to the face; Mr Ryan fell to the ground, struck his head, and at that point was rendered unconscious.
Judge Nolan said Mr Ryan recovered consciousness and decided to go home but was found unresponsive the following morning and assessed by emergency services as being 3 out of 15 on the Glasgow Coma Score, the very lowest level.
“He suffered a very severe brain injury,” said Judge Nolan, adding that although Mr Ryan’s situation has stabilised, there would be “no great improvement”.
Evidence in the case was heard on Wednesday and Judge Nolan adjourned the matter overnight to consider the sentence.
Mr Ryan made his way unsteadily with the help of a walking stick to the stand on Wednesday where his mother, Tracy, read out his victim impact statement on his behalf.
In the statement, Mr Ryan said he was in the prime of his life when he was assaulted, and now, at 25, he has a “pathetic existence” after the blunt force trauma to the back of his head.
“It’s no life for someone my age,” said Mr Ryan, who overdosed twice on tablets and was put on suicide watch due to extreme depression because of his injuries.
He spent eight months in hospital and in the National Rehabilitation Centre in Dun Laoghaire, and his short-term memory is permanently damaged.
Mr Ryan said he was peg-fed, wore nappies and was paralysed for a time when he could not talk, walk, eat or drink.
“It was surreal, like I woke from a horrific nightmare, except I was living a horrific nightmare.”
He said his family were told he would not survive and not to hold out any hope.
Mr Ryan said when he got out of hospital, it hit him extremely hard, and he would have panic attacks about having to climb the stairs, realising “this was my life.”
He said he suffers from back and knee pain, headaches, vertigo, fatigue, hypersensitivity, and PTSD and cannot do simple things like enjoy a cup of coffee as he worries about spilling it.
He lost a quarter of his vision in both eyes and has constant double vision.
Mr Ryan said his foot drags behind him as he walks, and he does not feel safe, jumping at any unexpected noise.
He said if he had received help immediately and had Tyler called an ambulance, he most likely would have “walked out of Beaumont”.
“But instead of doing, at least, a humane thing and calling an ambulance, you chose to think of yourself and make up a story,” wrote Mr Ryan.
Mr Ryan said Tyler had made no attempt to apologise and had not sent a card or letter, nothing.
“You lied continually to my mother all day about not having a clue what had happened to me when you watched me bleeding. My life meant nothing to you,” he said, adding that he had given Tyler a chance when no one else wanted to know him.
Detective Marcella Shanahan told Gráinne O’Neill BL, prosecuting, that on the day in question, Tyler contacted Mr Ryan and invited him over to have some drinks after work.
Text messages between the two showed Mr Ryan was reluctant as he was still at work and wanted to be in bed at half nine or ten.
But the pair met up around eight-thirty and consumed four cans, after which an altercation arose.
Mr Ryan got a blow to his head, after which he left and went home, not realising how serious the blow was.
Mr Ryan’s mother, Tracy, told gardaí that her son came home at around 10 pm and said his head was killing him.
She said Aaron had a circular cut on the right back side of his head, and she cleaned it and gave him paracetamol. Mrs Ryan asked her son to lie down in the bedroom beside her as he had had epilepsy in the past, and she wanted to keep an eye on him.
He told her he had been attacked by a junkie in the laneway while coming home, as part of a story concocted by both Tyler and Mr Ryan so that his mother would not know.
Aaron went into his own room, and when his mother tried to wake him for work the following morning at 6:15, he was unresponsive, convulsing, frothing at the mouth and with a weak pulse.
A second witness, a neighbour who was a student nurse, told gardaí that she called to help and said Aaron “looked like a stroke victim”.
An ambulance was called, and Mr Ryan was given first aid and oxygen and transferred to James Connolly Hospital and then to Beaumont Hospital for surgery that night on a major brain bleed.
Mr Ryan spent eight months in hospital and underwent a number of surgeries. Gda Shanahan said his life has been “significantly impacted” by his injuries.
Gardaí spoke to Tyler two days later, and he gave the same explanation that Mr Ryan had given his mother about Aaron having been hit by a junkie.
A small amount of cocaine valued at €30 was found in Tyler’s bedroom, and his phone was seized and examined.
Gardaí recovered a series of deleted texts, including some between Mr Ryan and Tyler after the injuries had been sustained.
“Man, I can’t hear through my right ear, fuck my, head’s sore; my head’s never been sorer,” Mr Ryan texted, to which Tyler replied: “I’m so sorry, man, you were unconscious for about a minute.”
Mr Ryan texted: “Trying to think of a story to tell me ma, like some junkie hit me ha ha.”
Tyler also texted Mr Ryan’s mother: “Jesus, is he getting operated on, what hospital is he in, is he allowed visitors or anything like that? He told me he was after getting jumped on by a junkie over in the field.”
Tyler continued: “Jesus Christ this is so unfair on ye Tracy.” “Do you think maybe he owed someone money?”
However, in messages sent by Tyler to his own mother the following day, Tyler said Mr Ryan had been “on the phone to this lad trying to get weed off him. I said, ‘Don’t bring this shit to my door,’ I smacked him one, and he was out cold for a minute.”
Tyler’s mother responded: “He must know how risky this is for you,” to which Tyler replied: “Well yeah, that’s why I snapped.”
Counsel for the State said it was difficult to come up with an actual theory of what happened as the injured man had amnesia and the only person who could say was the accused.
Ms O’Neill said Tyler claimed that Mr Ryan was arranging for drugs to be brought to the house and that Tyler didn’t want that to happen as he was trying to turn his life around following drug convictions.
Tyler has five previous convictions, including cultivation of cannabis and possession of cannabis for sale or supply, all arising from the same incident.
Tyler had a suspended sentence for his drug offences at the time of this assault.
Gda Shanahan said Tyler “didn’t give a full version of events” and that he “completely frustrated the investigation from the start”.
Medical statements from Connolly Hospital, Beaumont Hospital and three from the National Rehabilitation Centre were submitted to court but not read aloud.
Garret Baker SC, defending Tyler, said his client said he hit Mr Ryan with one punch, and he fell over and hit the ground, causing the “hugely catastrophic” and “cataclysmic” injuries.
Gda Shanahan agreed with Mr Baker that the punch does not appear to have been premeditated and that the main injuries were caused by Mr Ryan hitting the wooden floor rather than the punch.
Mr Baker said Tyler had expressed remorse and felt “rotten” about what had happened. The court heard Tyler had written a letter of remorse.
A 20-page psychological report on Tyler was handed into court, describing his difficult childhood and an “extremely distressing and traumatic family environment”.
Mr Baker said Tyler had been born in the US and spent his youth there, living a fairly nomadic existence, going from school to school and country to country.
Both his parents had issues and split up, and Tyler had behavioural problems at school and alcohol and drug dependency from a relatively early age.
Tyler succumbed to drug addiction by 16, graduating from cannabis and MDMA to cocaine and ketamine.
Mr Baker said his client had suffered anxiety, mood swings, depression and low self-esteem from early adolescence, along with PTSD.
The report said Tyler would need to be monitored closely for deterioration in relation to his mental health and would require specific intervention.
The report also said Tyler had expressed a genuine sense of regret for his behaviour and that he acknowledged that he had lost his temper.
Mr Baker said the case was a “tragic reminder” that any kind of violence can have “cataclysmic results”.
Judge Nolan agreed with the State’s view that the offence was at the lower end of the scale for assault causing serious harm.
The judge concluded that Tyler could not have envisaged the effect that his punch could have had, nor did he intend, when he struck Mr Ryan to the face, that these injuries would result.
“But when you punch somebody, you take a risk that they will fall badly, and when they fall badly, they could die or sustain serious injuries,” said Judge Nolan.
He said he found it “slightly aggravating” that Tyler had not called emergency services at the time, which would have been a “sensible course of action,” and also that Tyler was evasive and “pretended lack of knowledge” when it became apparent that Mr Ryan had suffered serious injuries.
Judge Nolan said Tyler was remorseful and that it was highly unlikely that he would re-offend to this degree.
“He has contributed to society and is well-capable of contributing to society,” said Judge Nolan.
He set a starting headline of three to four years but reduced this to two years on account of mitigation.
The case will be back before the courts on February 15 to determine how to apply the suspended sentence Tyler was under at the time of the offence.