A Finglas man who accidentally shot and almost killed an eight-year-old boy when he was shooting at birds with a pellet gun has been sentenced to four years by Judge Patricia Ryan
Stephen Fitzpatrick (19), of Finglaswood Road, was 17 years of age at the time. He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to recklessly discharging a firearm at and intentional or reckless endangerment of the now 10-year-old victim at Cabra Road on April 13th, 2005.
The judge took into account Fitzpatrick's drug abuse but said the serious nature and consequences of the offence warranted a custodial sentence.
She suspended the final year on strict conditions and ordered Fitzpatrick to attend a drug treatment course on his release.
She ordered at a previous hearing that €3,000 which Fitzpatrick's father had in court for the boy's family be handed over to the intensive care unit at Temple Street hospital as directed by the victim's mother.
Det Garda Aidan Flanagan told prosecuting counsel, Patrick McGrath BL, that the young boy was playing in the garden next to Fitzpatrick's mother's home when he suddenly felt he couldn't breathe and noticed there was blood squirting from the right side of his neck.
He was taken to Temple Street hospital where it was found he had air leaking from near his windpipe as a result of air rifle pellets puncturing his neck and lodging in his voice box.
A medical report indicated he had narrowly escaped life-threatening injuries. It was thought at the time that his voice would be permanently impaired but he has since made a full recovery.
Det Garda Flanagan said Fitzpatrick admitted to accidentally shooting the boy when firing at birds on the fence of the garden in which the children were playing and suggested that a round must have ricocheted off a wall.
Fitzpatrick said he didn't notice anyone around at the time. He said he bought the gun while on holiday abroad and destroyed it in a dump some days after the shooting.
"I am telling you the truth. I was shooting at two birds. It was a genuine mistake," Fitzpatrick told gardaí.
Det Garda Flanagan said the boy had two hours of surgery and was treated in intensive care for five to six days before he was transferred to the high- dependency unit and then on to a standard ward.
Fitzpatrick had nine previous convictions, including one for robbery for which he received a three-year suspended sentence in July 2006.
Det Garda Flanagan agreed with defence counsel, Michael O'Higgins SC (with Sandra Frayne BL), that the Director of Public Prosecutions had first charged him with intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm but withdrew this on the trial date and Fitzpatrick pleaded guilty to the present offence.
He accepted that Fitzpatrick had a difficult family life. His parents separated when he was five years old and his mother was left disabled after her leg was amputated.
Fitzpatrick then went to live with his grandmother but he felt it difficult to live under her "old-fashioned rules". He was considered as having no fixed abode at the time of his arrest.
Fitzpatrick told the court he was very sorry for the trouble he caused his victim and his family. "It was an accident. I am always thinking about it and wishing it never happened," he said.