Man (20) sentenced for his part in brawl with restaurant workers on South William Street, Dublin

A young Dublin man has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for his part in a brawl with restaurant workers in Dublin city centre.

Ryan Dowling (20) of Poppintree Crescent, Ballymun, Dublin, pleaded guilty to one count of violent disorder at South William Street, Dublin 2, on June 17th, 2021. He has 16 previous convictions.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that a couple were out for dinner on the night in question to celebrate their anniversary when the woman got up to walk around for some air. The woman was heavily pregnant at the time. The woman was approached by a group of four males, one of whom was Dowling. The group began to harass her, with one of the four blowing cannabis smoke in her face.

Garda Eoin McLoughlin told Garrett McCormack, BL, prosecuting, that staff from the restaurant where the couple were eating came to assist the woman. The group of men then picked up furniture and threw it at two members of staff. Beer cans were also thrown.

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The court heard the brawl continued down South William Street, and one of the group grabbed a wine bottle from a table and threw it at one of the restaurant workers. The fight continued with kicks and punches being thrown by the group of men.

Gda McLoughlin said members of the public broke up the incident, and the brawl was captured on mobile phones by bystanders. When gardaí arrived at the scene, they found one restaurant worker bleeding heavily with injuries to his head and shoulder.

The court heard that the men had fled towards the Drury Street area when the gardaí arrived. Two of the four men were seen on Drury Street and one on Exchequer Street and were stopped by gardaí. Dowling was detained, but the gardaí were unable to question him for a number of hours as he was intoxicated.

Video footage of the incident was played in court. The victims, in this case, did not wish to make victim impact statements.

Gda McLoughlin agreed with Aoife O’Leary, BL, defending, that it was another of the group who had both blown the smoke into the woman’s face and had thrown the bottle, not her client. She said that her client could be seen on the video footage swinging punches but did not hit anyone.

The garda agreed with counsel that this is the first time Dowling is before the circuit court and was not the chief aggressor in this incident.

Counsel said her client had consumed a large amount of alcohol, and this was something that he was not used to doing.

She asked the court to take into account her client’s young age at the time of the offence and his lack of maturity.

Passing sentence on Friday, Judge Elma Sheahan said this was “nothing short of thuggish behaviour” and “the accused did not throw the bottle, but he is strong and tall in stature and can be seen lashing out”.

Judge Sheahan said the aggravating factor in the case was that the accused was on bail at the time of the offence. The probation report also said that Dowling was at a high risk of reoffending.

The judge said the mitigating factors in the case were Dowling’s guilty plea and his apology for his behaviour.

Judge Sheahan sentenced Dowling to two years in prison, with the final 14 months suspended for 14 months under strict conditions.