A MAN has been sentenced to five years in prison after he deliberately knocked a man off his bicycle and drove over him in “a fit of temper and thirst for vengeance”.
The court was told Noel McGrath (27), an expectant father, was annoyed with Alan Culligan because he believed he had tried to kiss his girlfriend a few weeks previously in a nightclub. Mr Culligan later claimed the woman had come on to him.
Garda Danielle Farragher told Elva Duffy, prosecuting, Mr Culligan was cycling on Moreen Avenue in Sandyford when he saw McGrath drive into the estate in his silver Renault Laguna. McGrath’s then girlfriend was in the passenger seat.
McGrath drove past but then back towards Mr Culligan, and up on to the footpath where he was cycling. Mr Culligan tried to get away but McGrath drove at him, knocking him off his bike.
He then drove over Mr Culligan, who was lying on his side on the road in intense pain. The victim later told gardaí he feared he would be killed before McGrath drove out of the estate.
Garda Farragher said Mr Culligan was treated for a dislocated pelvis and fractured wrist.
McGrath, who has worked as a DJ, was arrested later that day. A number of witnesses had alerted gardaí to the incident and supplied the car’s registration number.
McGrath told gardaí during interview the victim had sexually assaulted his girlfriend a number of weeks previously by trying to kiss her. He said his girlfriend had just told him she could be pregnant, and he just started “seeing red” when he spotted Mr Culligan.
“It was like tunnel vision. I just thought, ‘I’ll get him’,” McGrath told gardaí, before claiming he did not intentionally run over the victim and had only meant to nudge him off his bike. “I wanted to show him he could not f**k with me,” McGrath said in interview.
McGrath, of Moreen Walk, Sandyford, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing Mr Culligan harm on March 31st, 2011. He has no previous convictions and has not come to Garda attention since.
Roughan Banim, defending, said although it turned out his girlfriend was not then pregnant, she is now due McGrath’s baby in a few weeks, but the couple are no longer together. Mr Banim said his client had a serious lung condition. A psychiatric report before the court concluded he had “low intellectual functioning” and had some difficulties in thinking through the consequences of his actions.
Judge Martin Nolan suspended the final three years of the sentence, taking into account McGrath’s previous good record and co-operation with gardaí. He said the victim’s injuries were “entirely foreseeable”. McGrath could have left him with more serious injuries or have killed him.
“The red mist descended upon him,” the judge said, before he commented that it was a serious assault carried out in “a fit of temper and thirst for vengeance”.