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A teenager who repeatedly stabbed another boy his age with a broken glass vodka bottle after refusing to give him € 2 for bus fare has been jailed for 18 months.
The defendant has turned 18 since the fierce attack in the Carrigaline water park area in Co Cork in June this year.
The attack attracted significant public attention when it went viral after it was filmed and posted online.
The Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard evidence from Garda Detective Declan Healy of Carrigaline Garda Station, who said the young man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, left the 17-year-old “for dead.”
Det Garda Healy said the incident occurred shortly after 10 p.m. on June 6 when teenagers approached the victim and told her to hand over 2 euros for the bus ticket.
The young man refused to give them the money. A teenager not before court hit him in the face and knocked him to the ground.
It was at that moment that the accused got involved.
The defendant took a glass bottle of vodka and smashed it against the victim’s head.
Judge Sean O’Donnabhain heard that he then used the serrated neck of the bottle to stab the injured part in the back as he lay on the ground unable to defend himself.
Det Garda Healy said the boy was stabbed at least six times. However, he fortunately avoided lasting physical injuries.
The victim’s mobile phone fell out of his pocket in the attack. The defendant fled the scene with him.
The court heard that another young man filmed the incident and put it online. Gardaí said the video caused a viral sensation when viewed as far away as in the United States.
Later, Gardaí interrogated the young man. When he was detained at the Carrigaline Garda station, the victim’s mobile phone was found on his person.
In an impact statement to the victim, the mother of the injured party said they had been devastated by the “frenzied” attack.
He said that when he arrived at the scene, he saw his son being transported on a stretcher to an ambulance. He said the scene looked like a crime shot from the CSI show.
“It was an unnecessary and frantic attack, it was devastating for my son and our family. This was every parent’s nightmare. We believed our son was dead. Social media added another layer of pain.”
He said they had never seen the video of the incident and had no intention of ever seeing it.
She said she felt sick with anxiety when her son and her other siblings were away from home and couldn’t be reached by phone.
She told the court that the family reacted with “horror and disbelief” when they were informed that a video clip of the attack had been shared on Snapchat. He stressed that the incident would haunt his family forever.
“We are haunted by the nightmare scene of our son lying in the back of a bandaged ambulance and telling us he did nothing wrong. He will remain with us for the rest of our lives.”
Judge O’Donnabhain condemned the filming and sharing of the video, saying: “It is a regrettable sign. That we should have dropped to this low level. This assault was on a defenseless victim who was lying on the ground. That some (other) idiot should I have filmed it? “
He said the defendant displayed an extreme amount of violence for a man his age.
“There was a considerable amount of violence. He had a victim on the ground. Who should have hit him with a bottle, and then stabbed him in the back with the broken bottle.”
The defendant came to court with a signed plea of guilty of battery causing injury contrary to Section 3 of the Non-Fatal Crimes Against the Person Act.
Defense attorney Emmet Boyle BL said his client had left Cork after the incident after being hated.
The young man has successfully engaged in support services and is very sorry for his actions.
The young man, who has no prior convictions and has never appeared in court, wrote to his victim’s family to apologize for his actions.
Judge Ó Donnabháin said the case merited a custodial sentence despite the defendant’s youth and lack of preconditions.
He imprisoned the young man for two and a half years, suspending the last year of his sentence.
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