A young man has been jailed for four-and-a-half years for his role in a horrific attack that left a teenage girl blind in one eye.
19-year-old Darragh Lyons, of Weir View, Glenaulin, Chapelizod, Dublin, admitted punching Alanna Quinn Idris after he and several others set upon her and her friend.
Darragh Lyons wasn’t the one who delivered the blow that cost Alanna her vision in her left eye, but he was held culpable by joint enterprise.
After some words were exchanged between Alanna’s friend and another accused, Darragh joined a group of men who had followed them to another friend’s house.
Alanna Quinn IdrisHe led the others into what was an “unprovoked attack.”
He punched Alanna, causing her to fall against a wall.
She got back on her feet and while trying to protect her friend, another man swung the saddle of his E-scooter at her, hitting her in the side of the face.
The blow knocked her unconscious and led to her becoming blind in one eye.
Alanna Quinn IdrisIn her victim impact statement, she said the life she was supposed to live was taken from her that night.
She said what little confidence she had was also taken.
In noting Darragh Lyons’ age, Judge Martin Nolan said, “young people do stupid things.”
He said, “if he was older, his level of culpability would be greater.”
He then jailed him for four-and-a-half years.
Speaking outside court, Ms Quinn Idris said she was disappointed by the sentence.
"Being told today that what happened to me and the life that I've lost is only worth four and a half years, obviously isn't the best thing to hear," she said.
"I've to be like this now for the rest of my life, and in four and a half years time he'll be out and about.
"I don't really feel like these consequences are really justified".
🎥 Alanna Quinn Idris spoke to media after Darragh Lyons was jailed for 4.5 years. She’s very disappointed, especially because he’s likely to be out in just over 3 years.
At the hearing, she told the judge her life as she knew it came to an abrupt end when she was attacked. pic.twitter.com/szlG6YXEww— Frank Greaney (@FrankGreaney) March 23, 2023
