THE ATTACKERS of an Irishman who died from his injuries after being brutally set upon and kicked repeatedly in the head were jailed for eight and nine years by a court in Rotterdam yesterday.
Niall Coyle (33), an electrician of Four Roads, Co Roscommon, suffered severe brain damage after he was attacked outside a bar in the town of Dordrecht near Rotterdam in the Netherlands last January.
In court yesterday to hear the sentencing, his brother Kieran Coyle said: “We are satisfied with the verdict and punishment, we know it was heavy by Dutch standards. Nothing will bring Niall back, we are utterly devastated.
“My brother would not stand on a fly.
“He did not deserve what he got, it was just terrible bad luck that he come up against these guys who were totally bad news.”
Two Dutchmen who had been drinking heavily in a bar entered by Mr Coyle as it was about to close went on trial charged with manslaughter.
Martin van der Wees (46) was jailed for nine years yesterday for the attack, while his companion Paul van der Bor received an eight-year sentence, considered heavy by Dutch standards.
Judges said both men were guilty of an act of extreme and senseless violence and deserved to be punished severely.
Van der Wees was the more violent of the two, kicking Mr Coyle persistently in the head as he lay unconscious. The public prosecutor had demanded they be jailed for 10 years calling it a shocking and savage attack without provocation in which the victim was kicked to death.
Although Mr Coyle had dealt the first blow it was not, his trial heard, a severe one and did not warrant the level of violence that followed.
The court had heard how the two men, both of whom had previous convictions for violent assaults, were asked by the barmaid to help her throw Mr Coyle out after he was refused a drink because she wanted to lock up.
An argument broke out and blows were exchanged as they pushed Mr Coyle out the door.
Passers-by described how the Irishman was kicked in the head again and again as he lay on the pavement outside.
He was known as “a gentle giant” among his friends, said Mr Coyle’s brother, who showed judges photographs of him, describing his brother, one of 10 children, as friendly and popular.
He had only moved to Holland three weeks before his death.
The trial heard that he had been drinking in another bar where he sang Irish songs earlier in the evening.
“It was a senseless act of extreme violence and both attackers are equally responsible for his death, the public prosecutor told the court.
Judges ordered the two men to pay €11,400 to the dead man’s family to cover his funeral and other expenses.