Victim beaten and kicked in the face

Barry Curran punched the victim between the eyes and then in the face as he lay defenceless on the ground.

Dublin District Court heard the man was too afraid to leave his house to make a statement to gardai for days afterwards and would still not walk alone in Dublin.

Curran, of New Street Gardens, Dublin, was convicted of attacking Andrew Cook in the incident at Palmerston Park, Rathmines, on July 4, 2009.

Judge Catherine Staines issued a warrant for his arrest after he failed to appear.

He had pleaded not guilty on an earlier date. Mr Cook told the court he had had dinner at home and left the house at 1am to buy cigarettes in a local shop.

He went for a walk while listening to his iPod and as he came through Palmerston Park, he noticed the accused and two other men getting over a railing.

He walked past them and turned out of the park but "felt something was wrong" and removed his iPod. He heard one shout "get the bracelet" and felt a tug on his arm.

"As I turned I got a punch straight in the face, followed by three punches," he said.

He was knocked to the ground, where two of the men started kicking him in the face while the third kept a lookout.

"It was extremely vicious and the blows were coming thick and fast," he recalled.

The attack lasted about a minute and only stopped because the man keeping lookout said the gardai had arrived.

aphelan@herald.ie