A Derry man has been given a suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay compensation to the man he wounded in a city centre bar 'glassing' incident.
Paul O'Neill, 31, of College Glen, was convicted of wounding for an offence which took place on August 2 of last year.
Defence Counsel Eoghan Devlin said it was a 'glassing case' in which the defendant had thrown a punch 'not realising he had a glass in his hand' at the time.
He said that at a previous court appearance the investigating officer had accepted that version of events.
The court was told O'Neill has no previous convictions.
A Public Prosecution Service (PPS) representative explained that on August 2 at 1.45am there was a report of a man being 'glassed’ in a city centre bar.
On arrival police found the injured party outside before he was taken to hospital.
The PPS representative said there was an altercation which led to the defendant throwing the punch with a glass in his hand, which smashed as it hit the injured party's face.
The victim tried to fight back and was dragged away by the bouncers.
Later that evening the defendant was arrested at an address he had gone back to after the incident.
CCTV from the bar captured the entire altercation.
Injuries sustained by the victim included a 2cm wound near his left eye, a cut to his cheek and a haemorrhage in his left eye.
Mr Devlin said that when his client was shown CCTV footage he accepted that it was him but couldn't explain his actions.
The court heard the two men are known to one another.
Pleading his client's case, he said that sometimes people attempt the 'ostrich approach' but that was not the case with O'Neill, who, he said, was indebted to the injured party and Crown for accepting his explanation of events.
The defence barrister explained that custody would have been inevitable if the court had taken a different view.
According to Mr Devlin, O'Neill had brought a large sum of money to court with him to pay compensation as he treated the case with the 'utmost seriousness'.
Concluding, defence counsel asked for maximum credit to be given.
District Judge Barney McElholm said it was a 'very serious' incident.
The judge suspended a six month jail sentence for two years and ordered O'Neill to pay £1,250 in compensation to the injured party.
The defendant paid £1,000 towards the total and was given twelve weeks to pay the remaining £250.
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