Omagh victim suffered fractured ribs during attack, court told

AN OMAGH teenager has received a suspended sentence after taking part in a ‘joint enterprise’ assault which left a man with fractured ribs.

On Tuesday, 18-year-old Finn Collins, of Sperrin Park, was sentenced after an adjournment was sought to clarify the victim’s injuries.

Collins pleaded guilty to one count of assault and another charge of assault causing serious injury at Omagh Magistrates Court.

The court heard that, around 9pm on March 29 last year, the staff at a shop in Old Market Square were locking up when three youths arrived and became verbally abusive.

The defendant, aged 17 at the time, threw a cup of alcohol over one of the individuals after they said they ‘wanted no trouble’.

The individuals locked themselves inside the shop but returned to the street shortly afterward.

However, when they tried to leave, they were again confronted by the youths, who offered to fight the man. The group then began punching him in the head, neck and body, knocking him to the ground.

The assault continued with kicks to the ribs.

However, after an adjournment, the details of the injuries were clarified.

Further reports indicated that the man had not suffered from a ‘punctured lung’, as previously indicated, and that the fractured ribs were caused by the knee of the co-accused.

Defence counsel Joe McCann, instructed by solicitor Michael Fahy, said that it was an ‘unusual’ case as the co-accused was sentenced as a youth, despite being a week older than Collins.

However, because of time lapsed before Collins could be sentenced for the same offence, he had turned 18, which created problems in sentencing as an adult rather than as a youth, Mr McCann said.

Mr McCann asked for a sentence which would allow the 18-year-old to continue with a youth diversion conference, which was imposed for separate offences before Collins turned 18.

District judge Ted Magill acknowledged Collins’ guilty plea, but said that this was an ‘unsavoury incident’.

Judge Magill said after watching the CCTV footage that he co-accused ‘almost certainly’ caused the rib injury, but said that Collins and the co-accused were ‘equally culpable’.

The Omagh teenager was sentenced to four months in custody but the sentence was suspended for two years.