A student who assaulted a gay couple and threw homophobic slurs at them as they tried to intervene in a row he was having with his girlfriend has been given a fully-suspended sentence.
Charlie Lawlor (21) of St Patrick’s Terrace, Monkstown Farm, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to one of the women, and to assaulting her partner during the incident, which occurred at Church St, Dun Laoghaire on August 11, 2022.
Prior to the attack, Lawlor and his girlfriend had been chatting with the couple in a local pub, having just met them that night.
In a joint victim impact statement read out in court by the investigating officer, the women said they were left “emotionally scarred” as the result of the actions of a “homophobic man under the influence of alcohol”.
One of the women required surgery and was left with a scar to the face as a result of the attack, the court heard.
The women said that while this scar was a “permanent reminder and testament of the brutality we endured that night”, their injuries went beyond the physical.
“Our lives have been irrevocably changed by this heinous act,” they said, adding that they hoped the court would take into account the effect the attack had on them as they attempt to rebuild their “shattered sense of security”.