A college student from Newmarket on Fergus has been handed an eight-month jail term for what has been described as "a vicious and unprovoked attack" on a singer in a band.
23 year old Darren O'Connor of Urlanbeg, Newmarket on Fergus, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to David Finnegan in an incident in Shannon last June.
Ennis District Court heard that Darren O'Connor kicked David Finnegan in the head and body during the assault which took place near the Shannon Knights on June 2nd last – he suffered a broken nose, and was permanently scarred over his left eye.
It happened just three months after O'Connor had paid 4,000 euro to another assault in respect of a previous assault charge in March of last year.
O'Connor, a sports science student at UL, was told that he behaved in a "thuggish" fashion by Judge Patrick Durcan, who said that "a kick is the behaviour of a coward who should hang his head in shame permanently.”
The judge handed down an eight-month jail term, but O'Connor was freed pending a hearing of an appeal in the case after his father provided an indpendent surety of 1,000 euro.
