Suspended sentence activated for Corkman after getting in trouble again

A YOUNG Ballincollig man has had a two-year suspended jail term activated as he has gotten into more trouble since that sentence was suspended in a case where he assaulted two 15-year-old boys and a 12-year-old boy in the town.

Brian Desmond got a sentence of three years at Cork Circuit Criminal Court in June 2021.

Two years of that sentence were suspended on condition he would get into no further difficulty.

Now at the same court, Judge Helen Boyle has been told that Brian Desmond has come to the adverse attention of gardaí again.

Judge Boyle activated the remaining two years of the sentence. There was no objection from the defendant to the activation of that sentence.

The evidence back in June 2021 was that three boys were on their way home from training or just playing in the Ballincollig area when they were attacked by Brian Desmond.

Detective Garda Donal O’Connell described in that case the violent and totally unprovoked attacks that were carried out by Brian Desmond, now aged 23, of Innishmore Grove, Ballincollig, at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Desmond, who was a former member of a boxing club, had been drinking heavily and taking large amounts of prescription tablets on the day of the attacks which were carried out on a laneway from the Regional Park to Innishmore Grove. He was with another young man at the time.

“All of these happened on the afternoon of February 15, 2021. The accused and his friend were sitting on a wall.

“The first injured party is a 15-year-old boy on his way home after football. The accused shouted to pass the ball. As the injured party was walking past him, the accused struck him with a closed fist to his face. He later required three stitches to a burst lip.

“It was totally unprovoked. He was just walking home from playing football.

“Again a 15-year-old on his way home on his bicycle from hurling was asked for the time. He stopped and the accused grabbed his hurley, He stood back, and with what the victim said was a good swing, he slapped him in the face with the hurley. He spat out a tooth after it.

“The third boy was 12 years old returning from a playground. He was asked had he any tobacco and when he said he did not the defendant said he did and struck him with a closed fist to the forehead knocking him to the ground,” Det. Garda O’Connell said.

The defendant later smashed a car in the area with the hurley.