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A DUBLIN MAN who carried out a prolonged violent attack on two people in a row over a seat on a bus has received a three year suspended sentence.
Peter Harte (26) launched the assaults on the man and woman after a disagreement.
The attack lasted ten minutes and involved head butting, kicking and punching.
Harte of Kildonan Road, Finglas, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm to Pedro Mendez and Gabriella Leon at Old Kilmainham Road, Dublin on July 24, 2014.
Harte’s eleven previous convictions are mainly for alcohol related public order offences.
He also has a conviction for robbery and an assault committed in May 2009.
Voluntary work
Judge Desmond Hogan said Harte must carry out 240 hours voluntary work in the community as part of the suspended sentence and finish up participation with the Restorative Justice Programme.
He also said Harte must also undergo drug, alcohol and anger management programmes if deemed suitable and ordered that the €1,500 he had raised as a token of remorse be passed on to the victims.
Garda Caroline Kelly told the court during the sentence hearing that the two victims were getting the bus home after a few social drinks in the city centre.
Harte got on the bus and came straight over to where they were sitting on the top deck.
There were other free seats on the bus and Mr Mendez asked Harte:
“Man do you really want to sit beside us there are so many free?”
Harte replied:
“You don’t tell me where to sit, don’t fucking speak to me like that.”
Kicks in the head
Mr Mendez told gardaí that that he then went to move his belongings off the free seat beside him to let Harte sit down. The Portuguese national turned to speak to Ms Leon, who is Mexican, and at this point Harte began kicking him in the head.
He grabbed Mr Mendez’s long hair and got him into a headlock and whispered into his ear: “I’m going to kill you”.
The victim pleaded with him, saying “Just let me go, I will get off the bus”.
Ms Leon described Harte’s attack as being like a boxer in a fight. She called gardaí on her phone but Harte continued the attack. Ms Leon began recording the attack on her phone and when Harte saw her doing this he swung at her, knocking the phone away.
He punched her face with a closed fist and continued punching her to the back of her head when she turned away from him to protect herself.
Mr Mendez came to help her and she went downstairs but she was afraid to get off the bus in case Harte followed her.
Eye ‘burning’
Garda Kelly told Judge Hogan that the attack lasted ten minutes.
At one point Mr Mendez tried to apologise to his attacker, telling him: “I was rude, I apologise, I had a bad day.”
The victim could feel his right eye burning with the punches and after the attack he was barely able to open it.
Because of the incident the bus driver had stopped the bus. Harte sat down for a while after the assault ended and then went downstairs and asked the driver why the bus wasn’t moving.
Judge Hogan said this behaviour made it clear that Harte was “out of it”.
Harte then got off the bus and walked away.
Gardaí received confidential information after CCTV footage of the assaults was played on RTE’s Crimecall programme and they went to Harte’s home.
After this Harte contacted gardaí and after viewing the footage, he admitted carrying out the assaults.
No memory of incident
Garda Kelly said the two victims, who had been living and working here for a number of years, did not want to continue living here as a result of the attack.
Mark Lynam BL, defending, said that his client had no memory of the incident and had taken a large amount of alcohol and non-prescribed tablets on the night. Mr Lynam said since the attack there had been a number of incidents of self harm on his client’s part.
The court heard Mr Mendez believed Harte was going to kill him. He suffered blurred vision after the attack and had trouble chewing. He was also left with bruising to his body.
Judge Hogan said: “Let me say it clearly, alcohol and drugs are not a defence to an offence such as this” but he added that his level of intoxication could be a mitigating factor in the context where Harte has pleaded guilty to the assaults.
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Vincent Brown is an excellent interviewer. No wonder many politicians wish to avoid him e.g. Gerry Adams.
Enda Kenny is scared shitless of Vincent Brown .
Actually at times he comes across as a bully. Especially last week when he was supposed to interviewing an ex British Army officer who served in Afgahnistan on the security situation in the ME and proceeded to verbally assault and berate him for decisions taken by his govt. that he had no input into whatsoever. It was obvious he had been set up for an ambush by Browne. Shameful stuff.
considering all the British Army ambushes in Ireland or “terrorist attacks” as they called them at the time then was this not Karma from Mr. Browne ?
Northern Ireland – Proof the U.N. is an over-paid waffle shop for the bewildered !
Enda Kenny is scared of his own reflection……
Some say his own reflection doesn’t even like him…
And what will happen in the end is that Browne’s show will suffer for his ambush tactics, as he’ll struggle to get high profile guests. Instead he’ll be stuck interviewing clowns from People before Profit or the AAA.
Scipio, do you just complain about everything?
Vincent Browne has reduced himself to the level of an political Jeremy Kyle. No serious politician will ever go on his show unless it’s absolutely necessary.
Skippy is bang on the money, he’s already the level where his staple guests are irrelevant nutters like Joe Higgins, Declan Ganley and that PBP fool in the checked shirt.
Yet he still draws in big names in Irish politics and culture, draws in over 160,000 viewers in one of the worst slots and is good enough to be compared to Jeremy Paxman by the Guardian. Jon Snow of Channel 4 News is often called a bully, yet he’s still one of the most highly respected British journalists and Channel 4 has few problems drawing in highly significant people for interviews, even when the interviewees are at their most vulnerable. Basically, your claims have nothing to support them
You know his show is online right? I can actually open it up in my browser and sit here asking myself who are these people. Some of them are only there because they have twitter accounts.
It’s kinda like government backbenchers isn’t Ron ? …Who are these people all they have is Party Support …….
Has he had Twink on yet? It’s only a matter of time.
Yeah Twink would certainly qualify as one of those leading lights of Irish culture that ‘Free Gaza’ was talking about.
No she sticks to R.T.E. – just like Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour – Sinn Fein were banned from R.T.E. during the British Army “Terror with terror” (their own words) campaign until Paddy decided to call of the Grand National and we got to see all the posh British crying because their horseys couldn’t run around a field …
That was funny – and no bomb at all, at all ……
Scipio – Anyone who opens a comment with ‘you are an idiot’ , has clearly already lost the argument .
Except if they’re obviously addressing an idiot.
Scipio, completely misquoting me yet again. Never said anything about the leading lights of Irish culture. I simply said that Vincent Browne consistently has big enough names when it comes to the Irish context. I don’t know half the people on Frontline, the Late Late Show, Question Time or Newsnight most of the time so that’s hardly a measure of the presenter’s/interviewer’s credibility and skill. There are over 220 politicians at a national level in Ireland, plus almost a thousand at local level, never mind all the other politicians and activists across the island.
Ron mentioned the “irrelevant nutters” that appear on his show, yet we all know who Joe Higgins and Declan Ganley are, what they stand for and we actually pay some sort of attention to what they say or do, whether we take them seriously or not.
The fact that Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Labour and the lovely Twink all stick to RTE supports the point that Skippy was making Dermot.
Section 31 and ‘horseys’ are not relevant to this conversation..
Brown completely demolished Joan when she was on the show with Joe Higgins. She has never been on it since!
Nor has anyone else of consequence.
Seriously do any of you think Kenny or any of his likes would have the neck to go on Vincent Browne ..I don’t ..he is actually excellent at not letting his “guests” off the hook …id love to see Kenny.try to worm his way out of his broken election vows
This is just more proof of his legend status .
Answer the question to quote ..Vincent
Vincent would eat Enda for breakfast and Enda knows it.
Big fan of him. And he can have a bit of craic too.
Brown a big bully
he’s fantastic takes no shite .
I am so sick of fools calling people irrelevant just cause they’re not in the big four parties. Its toxic to democracy to regard deviation from mainstream politics as laughable or irrelevant. And of course there’s always this feeling its being done to stamp out opposition to those mainstream policies through snide laughter and ridicule
I agree with Sean bent above about the main parties but I would say 3.
The vincent Browne’s and George Hook’s of this country like the status quo and are scared shitless of Sinn Fein coming to power.
They knock them absoultely every chance they get.
Gerry, hook doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as Vincent Brown. He’s a rugby commentator and I see very little intellect.
UTV ireland is fast approaching. TV3 and VINB be afraid, be very afraid.
Enda would be afraid of Fionnán Sheehan.
Yeah the same few politicians on his show like thomas byrne going on about t’frozen chips. Bloody hell.
That was a very important insight into the cluelessness of the economic policies of Fianna fail – that and the fact that irish people had been calling for it for years while they made Frozen Pizzas in Galway for years !
Vincent for president
J-J-JUST ANSWER THE BLOODY QUESTION
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