Glenties father-of-two avoids prison after assault on Letterkenny nightclub worker

A Glenties father-of-two has avoided going to jail after assaulting a nightclub employee following a brawl outside a Letterkenny nightclub.

Jonathan Molloy, 28, appeared before Donegal Circuit Court after pleading guilty to causing serious harm to another man.

Details of the incident outside Voodoo Nightclub on the night of January 28, 2022 were given in court by Gardai at the request of state barrister, Ms Fiona Crawford, BL. 

The court was told that a melee inside the nightclub ended up with a number of men being ejected from the premises at Lower Main Street in Letterkenny.

CCTV of the moments after the men had been ejected out of the club was played in court. It showed a number of men outside the club facing down staff from the nightclub.

It then showed the accused man swinging a punch at unsuspecting nightclub employee Reece Gordon. Mr Gordon was later taken to hospital for treatment after being punched on the right side of his face and close to his right eye.

The victim suffered a laceration as well as orbital swelling and bruising.

Gardai arrived on the scene and viewed CCTV and then went in search of the men involved in the incident. They found three men suspected of being involved in the incident. All three were drunk and were arrested.

The court heard how all three had been out celebrating with another man who had returned home from Australia.

Molloy, of Narin Road, Glenties, was identified as the man behind the assault on Mr Gordon.

When shown photos of the injuries to his victim, Molloy said he did not think one punch could have caused such injuries.

A victim impact statement from Mr Gordon was handed into court for Judge John Aylmer to read.

Barrister for the accused, Mr Peter Nolan BL, instructed by solicitor Rory O'Brien, said the incident was completely out of character for his client and that he had no previous convictions.

He said his client comes from a good family background and that he works in his father's fuel business.

Mr Nolan said his client had attended the Garda Station the following day and apologised for the incident.

He also said his client had applied to join the fire service and had made it to the vetting process but had been refused entry because of his pending court case.

A number of character references were handed into court on behalf of Molloy including one from a former member of An Garda Siochana.

A Probation Report carried out on the accused also said that he was suitable for community service.

Mr Nolan added that his client had also brought the sum of €6,000 to court which he wanted to offer to his victim as a token of his remorse adding that Molloy had saved this money from his own earnings.

He concluded that this incident was entirely out of character for Molloy, that he simply got out of control as he was drunk celebrating a friend returning home from Australia and that it will never happen again.

Molloy was very concerned about the matter and how it had brought shame on his entire family who are law abiding and good citizens of the community, Mr Nolan added.

Passing sentence, Judge John Aylmer said this was a single punch assault, fuelled by alcohol which was out of character but which had serious consequences resulting in a nasty fracture to the victim's eye socket.

He added that while it was a single punch, the injury was so serious it places it in the mid range where a maximum sentence is one of five years in prison and because of the gravity of this offence it merited a sentence of three years before mitigation.

Judge Aylmer said it had been established that it was out of character, that Molloy had no previous convictions, had not offended since and that this was an aberration.

He added the accused had shown immediate remorse and had followed this up with concrete remorse in the form of €6,000 which had been accepted by the victim.

The Judge also noted his excellent references, his good work record and supportive family.

Due to the mitigating factors, he said the court took the view that the gravity of the case is marked and that a sentence of two years in prison was appropriate.

However, he added that this was a case where he was satisfied it was highly unlikely the accused would come to adverse attention again, he was imposing a sentence of 240 hour community service in lieu of the two years in prison.

He added that he was allowing Molloy a total of 12 months to complete this community service.