Man left victim with serious head injury after one-punch attack in Buncrana

A man who walked outside a Buncrana bar with another man to settle their differences left his victim with a serious head injury following a one-punch attack.

Sean Breen appeared before Donegal Circuit Court after the brutal assault on Damian McFadden outside the Atlantic Bar in Buncrana on August 9, 2019.

The 30-year-old Breen, of Marianus Park, Hazel Bank in Derry, pleaded guilty to assaulting Mr McFadden and causing harm.

Garda Michael Rafferty outlined the details of the case.

CCTV footage of the incident was played in court which showed the full extent of the incident.

The accused and another man are seen entering the bar on the town's Main Street and Breen begins to have words with Mr McFadden.

The three men go outside and words are exchanged between the accused and the victim before Breen delivers a punch with his left hand to the face of Mr McFadden.

The victim is seen falling back and banging his head before going unconscious.

Garda Rafferty said that Gardai arrived on the scene and found ambulance personnel who were very eager to get Mr McFadden to hospital following the assault.

He told of one eye witness who said that Mr McFadden was "out for the count with blood coming out of his mouth."

Mr McFadden began to come around and was rushed to hospital but could not remember the incident saying he could not understand why Gardai wanted details from him.

Mr McFadden discharged himself from hospital at 1.20am on August 10, 2019.

However, the court was told that the following day he was not feeling well and had pains in his head and was being sick.

He was rushed back to Letterkenny University Hospital but was sent to Dublin's Beaumont Hospital where he spent almost two weeks getting treatment for a serious head injury before being released on August 22nd.

CCTV of the incident was downloaded and local Detective Garda Jason Conroy made a positive identification of Sean Breen at the scene.

Breen was arrested and interviewed and admitted assaulting Mr McFadden following a disagreement over a person they both knew.

The court was also told that Mr McFadden had passed away on January 17, 2022, but that this was not connected in any way to the incident before the court.

Garda Rafferty said that Breen has a number of previous convictions in Northern Ireland for common assault, dangerous driving, not having insurance, taking a car without consent and failing to stop for police but had no convictions in this jurisdiction.   

Barrister for the accused, Mr Shane Costelloe, SC, said the evidence suggested that the brain injury was not as a result of the punch but as a result of the fall from which Mr McFadden had banged his head.

Mr Costelloe said that his client had said during interview that he had consumed a lot of alcohol and that he felt threatened during the encounter.

Mr Costelloe quoted his client saying: "I felt threatened and I was just defending myself."

He added that this incident happened when he was a younger man and that he has not come before any court since 2014.

He said that on the night in question, his client was 24 year olds, was drunk and had just broken up with his then girlfriend.

Because of this he had gone from someone who rarely drank to someone who "went off the rails," said Mr Costelloe and on the night he had got it into his head that there was bad blood between a mutual friend and Mr McFadden.

Mr Costelloe added that Breen is very ashamed of what he did and that the weight of his actions weigh very heavily on him to the extent that he attends for mental health treatment in Northern Ireland.

The barrister said that while it was no excuse, he wanted to point out that this was very much a one punch attack and it was not followed up by any "savagery" such as kicks to the head.

The court was informed that Breen works full-time as a landscaper and has three children.

Mr Costelloe pleaded with Judge Aylmer to consider a sentence that would allow him to be put on a path that would allow him to continue to be a father and a member of society and to be able to make recompense for what he has done saying his client can remain to be law abiding.

Judge Aylmer said he will consider the matter and will deliver his sentence next week.