*Trevor Quinn.
A JUDGE has jailed a teenage ‘Born Again Christian’ for 14 months for an ‘outrageous’ broad daylight machete attack on a busy Ennis street that left his victim requiring 40 stitches to a facial wound.
At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Francis Comerford imposed a 32 month prison term and suspended the final 18 months on Trevor Quinn (18) after Mr Quinn pleaded guilty to the assault causing harm of Shane Tuohy on Ennis’ Cornmarket Street at 3.30 pm on November 20th last.
Judge Comerford said that Mr Quinn of Hermitage, Ennis had inflicted a “very serious wound with a machete” around the ear of Mr Tuohy and had left his victim “with a disfiguring scar”.
Judge Comerford said that it was a high end assault causing harm case but that he was suspending the final 18 months due to the early guilty plea and Mr Quinn’s young age.
Judge Comerford backdated the prison term to last November 20th when Mr Quinn went into custody.
Counsel for Mr Quinn, Patrick Whyms BL (instructed by solicitor, Daragh Hassett) said that it was fortunate that more serious injuries were not inflicted.
A medical report found that Mr Tuohy’s artery was exposed but not cut from the machete assault.
When viewing a photo of the injuries at an earlier sitting of Ennis District Court, Judge Alec Gabbett remarked that Mr Tuohy “was three mm from death”.
At the sentencing hearing at the Circuit Court, CCTV footage and mobile phone footage was played of the machete attack on the busy street.
In evidence, Garda Alison White said that Mr Quinn could be seen walking from Cornmarket Street Area towards Parnell Street where he is walking alone with his concealed machete.
Garda White said that Mr Quinn was coming up against three males and during a brief interaction, one of the three put a hand on Mr Quinn “and he pulled out a machete”.
Garda White said that there was some kind of exchange and Mr Quinn attempted to strike one male and then struck Mr Tuohy.
Garda White said that Mr Quinn struck Mr Tuohy “across the ear and Mr Tuohy dropped immediately to the ground”
Garda White said that Mr Quinn then walks on but he was soon arrested by Gardaí who attended the scene.
Garda White said that Shane Tuohy didn’t make a statement to Gardaí and also did not provide a victim impact statement for the court.
Mr Quinn has no previous convictions and only turned 18 last September.
Mr Whyms said that Mr Quinn has instructed him to apologise “and accepts that his behaviour was outrageous”. Mr Whyms said that Mr Quinn is a Born Again Christian and this can be seen in some of his remarks at Garda interview.
Mr Whyms said that a couple of years before last November’s assault Mr Quinn was himself the victim of a serious assault and is deaf in one ear as a result.
Mr Whyms said that Mr Quinn has suffered paranoid behaviour since the assault perpetrated on him more than two years ago.
Mr Whyms said that Mr Quinn bought the machete online and accepts that he did over-react on the day last November.
Mr Whyms said that Mr Quinn was born in Dublin and moved to Clare at the age of six.
Mr Whyms said that Mr Quinn has learned his lesson.
