A FORMER fireman who cut a carpenter’s left hand off with a samurai sword in a crowded Dublin pub has been sentenced to nine years in prison by Judge Katherine Delahunt at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Charles Russell (28), Whitechapel Road, Dublin, pleaded guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing Peter Rogers serious harm at The Deputy Mayor Pub, Meekstown, on January 13th, 2008.
Russell’s 31 previous convictions included road traffic and criminal damage offences.
Det Garda Tony Gleeson told Melanie Greally, prosecuting, that Russell severed Mr Rogers’s hand at the wrist with his first swing of the sword, and the hand fell to the ground.
He said the victim did not notice at first that his hand had been severed, which he said must have been due to shock.
Mr Rogers continued to struggle with Russell and at one stage punched the accused in the face with the stump of his arm.
Russell and his co-accused had left the pub earlier on the day of the incident and returned with the sword and a hammer before they both assaulted Mr Rogers, Det Garda Gleeson told the court.
Russell was arrested the following March after gardaí identified him having viewed CCTV footage from the pub. He exercised his right to silence in the subsequent Garda interview.
Det Garda Gleeson agreed with Luan O Braonain SC, defending, that Russell’s co-accused claimed Mr Rogers had said something insulting to his girlfriend’s mother, which led to their attack.
He agreed with Ms Greally in re-examination that there was no evidence to support Russell’s co-accused’s version of events.
Judge Delahunt suspended the last 12 months of the sentence on condition that Russell keep the peace and be of good behaviour for two years.
She said the “lethal and offensive nature of the weapon used showed no other intention than causing the most grievous amount of harm” before she added that he had inflicted “catastrophic injuries”.
She noted that a victim impact report made “very sorry reading for such a young man”, after noting that not only had Mr Rogers suffered the physical injuries, he had ongoing clinical depression and panic attacks and had lost his trade and relationship.
Judge Delahunt said she was satisfied that the assault was at a very high level and involved premeditation, because Russell had left the pub to collect the weapons.