A man who was shot and injured earlier this year in a Dublin flat has been given a four year suspended sentence for his role in a pub fracas during which another man lost an eye.
Dublin Circuit Crimin Court was told Laurence Shelly has now paid £1,300 in compensation to his victim.
The President of the Circuit Court, Mr Justice Spain, had adjourned sentence on Shelly a year ago after hearing how Mr Patrick Pettigrew, an epileptic, lost his right eye in what was descnbed as an alcohol fuelled pub fracas. The incident happened on February 2nd, 1994.
Shelly (36), whose address was given as Lower Dorset Street, Dublin, admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm to Mr Pettigrew on that occasion.
Mr Justice Spain said his belief was, after considering the evidence, that both men fell over a table and the victim fell on broken glass. He had adjourned sentence to enable Shelly to pay £1,500 compensation, but it was now accepted he could not pay the remaining £200.
Det Garda Kevin Fields agreed with Mr Justice Spain at the original hearing that he was puzzled by the case. He had never got to the bottom of it. Both men involved in the fracas had been friends beforehand.