A Dublin man serving an eight- and-a-half-year sentence in connection with an assault which left an Italian student, Mr Guido Nasi, paralysed from the neck down, has lost his appeal against severity of sentence.
The three-judge Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday upheld the sentence imposed on James Osborne and dismissed his appeal.
In this case, the cliche "a fate worse than death" came to mind when considering what had happened to Osborne's victim, Mr Justice Geoghegan said.
Osborne (32), of Forth Road, East Wall, was sentenced in November 2001 after pleading guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to recklessly causing serious harm to Mr Nasi, then aged 17, at Annesley Bridge Road, Fairview, on July 29th, 1999.
Mr Nasi was struck by Osborne on the head with a half-full bottle of lager, causing near-fatal and permanent injuries, after the student had confronted a young boy over the disappearance of his wallet.
A Garda sergeant told the Circuit Criminal Court that Mr Nasi was with friends in the park and was attacked by Osborne who saw him wrestling with a young boy who, Mr Nasi believed, had stolen his wallet.
Mr Nasi was taken to hospital a little dazed but well enough to walk.
However, his condition deteriorated later.
Mr Justice Geoghegan said counsel for Osborne had argued that if death instead of injury had resulted, the sentence which would have been imposed for manslaughter would not be any higher.
It was further argued that, in principle, a sentence for the reckless causing of a bodily injury must always be lower than a sentence on the same set of facts where death rather than injury resulted.
While that argument was superficially attractive, the court was by no means satisfied that it was sound, Mr Justice Geoghegan said.
The sentence appropriate to the permanent destruction of a young man's life might not necessarily in all the circumstances be less than the sentence which would have been appropriate for manslaughter if death had resulted from the same crime. The cliche "a fate worse than death" came to mind.
Mr Justice Geoghegan said the court did not have to determine this philosophical issue in relation to sentencing because it considered that, if death had resulted in this case, a sentence of 10 years would not have been altered by the appeal court.
Mr Michael O'Higgins SC, for Osborne, told the Circuit Court his client deeply regretted "the terrible, catastrophic injuries inflicted to Mr Nasi" and would trade places if he could.
Counsel said Osborne was an alcoholic who had been drinking for most of the day in question.
The incident, he said, was fuelled by drink and rage.