Man who attacked heart specialist with champagne bottle at house to be sentenced

A person who attacked a heart specialist with a bottle of champagne on the sufferer’s house after they met in a Dublin pub that night time has been remanded in custody to be sentenced subsequent week.

Liam Whelan (43), of no fastened abode, had pleaded not responsible at Dublin Circuit Felony Courtroom to assault inflicting critical hurt and theft from the sufferer in Dublin metropolis on August 25, 2023.

Whelan was unanimously discovered responsible by a jury at Dublin Circuit Felony Courtroom on each counts following a trial in November.

The courtroom heard the sufferer later needed to bear surgical procedure to take away a big blood clot which was placing strain on her mind and to reconstruct her cranium because of a fracture.

He has everlasting listening to loss in a single ear and has been unable to work for six months because of a threat of epilepsy and seizures.

Decide Patricia Ryan adjourned the finalization of the case till subsequent Thursday to provide her time to think about numerous stories introduced to the courtroom.

Garda Ryan Delaney instructed Conor McKenna BL prosecuting that the sufferer lived and labored as a heart specialist exterior Dublin however had come to Dublin that night time to a home he owned within the metropolis. He went to dinner with a good friend earlier than going for a drink on the George Bar, on George’s Avenue within the metropolis centre.

The sufferer met Whelan whereas he was exterior within the smoking room, and the lads determined to return to the sufferer’s close by house.

Gda Delaney agreed with Mr McKenna that the sufferer had little or no reminiscence of what occurred afterwards, however she remembers going to her room with Whelan earlier than listening to a cracking noise. He later returned to the bottom in a pool of his personal blood.

He estimated he had been there for some time as his face was glued to the bottom.

The physician saved coming in and shedding consciousness. He recalled seeing Whelan within the room, bare, making an attempt on his garments and requested him to name an ambulance. He recalled Whelan mocking him and telling the sufferer he hadn’t caught up but if he wished to “lower him off”.

Whelan then left the home with the sufferer’s cash, pockets, bank cards, telephone and clothes.

The sufferer left the home and acquired paracetamol earlier than going house to sleep. He had meant to hunt assist at St James Hospital, however when he bought there he discovered there have been 11 ambulances lined up. So he determined to go to his house within the south of the nation.

The physician was handled the subsequent day in hospital. He underwent surgical procedure to take away the blood clot in his cranium and reconfigure the fragmented bones in his cranium.

He spent 5 days within the hospital and was unable to return to work as a heart specialist or drive for six months as a result of potential dangers of seizures.

Mr McKenna stated two medical stories have been earlier than the courtroom. The primary famous that the sufferer suffered critical bruising to the top and face and had a number of cuts to the face and scalp. He suffered a major cranium fracture and facial fracture.

The blood clot that was eliminated was thought of “giant and life-threatening.”

A second medical report indicated that the sufferer would endure everlasting listening to loss in a single ear and that his stability would even be impacted.

Scene of the assault

Mr McKenna reminded the courtroom that the jury had seen images of the person’s accidents and the scene of the assault.

Additionally they considered numerous CCTV footage exhibiting the lads first assembly, their return to the sufferer’s house, hand in hand, and their arrival on the sufferer’s house.

Whelan was recognized in CCTV footage and was finally arrested on January 4 this 12 months. In the course of the subsequent interview with the Garda, he claimed he had been sexually assaulted by the sufferer and had due to this fact hit him with a bottle.

He maintained this protection all through his trial. He additionally claimed the sufferer “got here in the direction of me with a knife.”

Gda Delaney stated Whelan had 63 earlier convictions, together with for breaching a banning order, for highway visitors offences, for possessing medication on the market or provide, for possessing knives and for dealing with stolen items.

A sufferer influence assertion learn into the report by Mr McKenna stated the sufferer had “recovered properly bodily – all issues thought of”.

He suffered a lack of earnings estimated at €106,760 as a result of impossibility of training cardiology for six months.

He stated he misplaced seven liters of blood within the assault and the partitions of his bed room needed to be repainted due to blood spatter. He has scars on his face and scalp.

The physician stated he had no earlier historical past of psychological sickness, however had suffered extreme misery since then.

He stated that by way of counseling he started to handle his social nervousness and was very depending on his family and friends. He suffers from “extreme and debilitating melancholy” which he finds embarrassing each socially and professionally.

“I’m a paper-thin model of the particular person I was,” the assertion continued.

“I’ll by no means perceive how somebody I used to be having a superb time with refused to name an ambulance, laughed at me and allowed me to fall again right into a pool of my very own blood,” he stated. he declared.

“It’s tough to simply accept the truth of life at the moment,” he concluded.

Gda Delaney agreed with Maurice Coffey SC in arguing that on the time of the offense Whelan was a homeless drug addict.

He admitted he had no earlier convictions for violent assault or theft.

Mr McKenna stated the Director of Public Prosecutions believed the offense was on the excessive finish of the spectrum and warranted a sentence of between 10 and 15 years, given the seriousness of the accidents and the influence they’d on his life, as a result of it was an unprovoked sentence. assault occurred on the sufferer’s house and that Whelan had used a bottle as a weapon.

The utmost penalty relevant to the courtroom for each offenses is life imprisonment.

Mr Coffey instructed Decide Ryan that though Whelan maintains he acted in self-defence, he accepts he dedicated these acts and brought about the hurt.

“He deeply regrets the extent of hurt brought about to the sufferer,” Mr Coffey stated, including that Whelan was remorseful for the damage brought about.

Mr Coffey requested the courtroom to simply accept his consumer had a tough life and handed over a letter from his sister describing their tough household historical past.

“He skilled tragedies inside his household and the deaths of shut family and friends members early in his life had critical penalties on his life,” the lawyer continued.

Mr Coffey requested the courtroom to keep in mind Whelan’s vulnerability on the time of the offense however accepted it was a really critical assault which resulted in lasting and everlasting harm to the sufferer.