Man jailed for assisting teenager in deadly assault

By Eimear Dodd and Jessica Magee

A man has been jailed for 15 months for his role in assisting a teenager before an assault which left a young man with a “catastrophic” brain injury.

Kean Doherty, who was then 19, was assaulted by a 16-year-old boy known to Paul Burgess (43) on December 28, 2018 at Ballyvaughan Lane, Lucan, Co. Dublin.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Burgess assisted the boy by driving with him to the area where Burgess pushed Mr Doherty against railings, then forced him to the ground before the teenager struck him.

At the time of the assault, Mr Doherty had been released from the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) to spend Christmas with his family. He was being treated at the hospital after sustaining serious head and brain injuries following a road traffic accident in June 2018.

Detective Sergeant Ronan Doyle told Maddie Grant BL, prosecuting, that Mr Doherty was awaiting further surgery and was highly vulnerable when the assault occurred.

Mr Doherty was taken to hospital following the assault, which exacerbated the injuries he sustained in the road traffic accident. A number of medical reports were handed into court.

The teenager received a formal caution and was dealt with under the youth diversion scheme, the court heard.

 Mr Doherty’s mother Samantha read a powerful victim impact statement to the court yesterday on Tuesday in which she said her son suffered a “catastrophic” brain injury following the assault.

She said the family had been excited Kean was coming home for Christmas and were overjoyed by his progress at the NRH.

Ms Doherty said she was worried when her son went to meet with friends and he then called her when she got home asking to be picked up.

She said she was on her way when a woman called using her son’s phone to say he had been assaulted.

Ms Doherty described arriving at the scene and her son being taken to hospital. She said it was like “déjà vu” for the family, as Kean was treated in the hospital where he suffered a stroke due to brain clots following the attack.

“We had to sit and watch our son fight for life over the actions of others,” she said, adding that the family “prepared for a funeral” while “praying for a miracle”.

She said their family had been “shattered again” by what happened. They now face a “harsh reality” that their son now requires full-time care and, who he was before, is gone.

She noted that her son is turning 26, but “can’t go out drinking or clubbing like others his age,” and is “living the life of a toddler”.

“This has destroyed our lives and changed them forever,” she said.

Burgess (43) pleaded guilty to a count of assisting an offender on December 28, 2018.

After hearing the facts on Tuesday, Judge Martin Nolan adjourned the case overnight to consider his verdict.

On Wednesday, Judge Nolan handed Burgess a 15-month sentence, saying he had put Mr Doherty in a position of danger where he was attacked.

Judge Nolan said Burgess had no idea of the vulnerability of Mr Doherty and had not intended for this to occur but that when parties embark on illegal acts, they must take people as they find them.

“I’m sorry to have to imprison him (Burgess) because I think he’s a decent man, but in this case, he deserves it. The level of culpability deserves a prison term,” said the judge.

He described the incident as tragic for Mr Doherty and said that Burgess was unlikely to reoffend to any great degree.

The court heard Burgess drove with the teenager to the lane. After getting out of the car, he pushed Mr Doherty onto railings, then swept his feet from under him, forcing him to the ground.

The teenager then got out of the car and struck Mr Doherty around four times. Burgess helped Mr Doherty to sit up against the railings before he left the scene with the boy. Mr Doherty fell onto the footpath and was lying on the ground when members of the public came to his assistance.

Burgess. of Mount Bellew Green, Lucan, Co. Dublin attended his local garda station voluntarily the following day after gardaí sought information on the assault.

He told gardaí he went with the boy to look for the person who tried to take the teenager’s bike. After Mr Doherty was pointed out as someone who had been involved, Burgess said he got out of the car, grabbed Mr Doherty and spoke to him.

He said the teenager got out of the car and started to punch the victim. Burgess said he told him to stop. He told gardaí he helped Mr Doherty to sit up and that he was talking when they left.

Det Sgt Doyle said there is no evidence to suggest Burgess hit Mr Doherty and that his role was assisting the teenager before the assault occurred.

Burgess has five previous convictions, all for road traffic offences.

Det Sgt Doyle agreed with Dominic McGinn SC, defending, that his client told gardaí that he wanted to find those who tried to take the boy’s bike and that he ensured Mr Doherty was sitting up before they left and did not realise the extent of his injuries.

It was also accepted that Burgess stopped further violence being inflicted by the boy.

A letter of apology and a number of testimonials were provided to the court. Doyle is involved in his local GAA club and fundraises for Health Action Overseas.

Mr McGinn asked the court to take into account the passage of time since this offence occurred and his client’s personal circumstances.

He said his client was not the main instigator of the violence, but assisted the boy in advance. He noted that his client acted to stop the violence getting worse.

Mr McGinn said Burgess was a “hard-working family man” who went to the gardaí when he realised there was an investigation and recognised, in hindsight, that he should not have acted as he did.