Youth, 17, gets community service for 'rage-filled' attack on lesbian couple

The youth, who cannot be identified because he is a minor, appeared again at the Dublin Children’s Court  on Wednesday for sentencing.

He must agree to complete 160 hours of work assigned to him or face a four-month term in custody in default.

The teen had pleaded guilty earlier to assault causing harm to Robyn Deane, 22, and her partner, Kate McCabe, 25, at Drumcondra Road Upper in the city’s north side on May 16, 2022.

The couple did not know the boy, then 15, who was on drugs.

He used a homophobic slur and suddenly launched an attack and repeatedly punched them.

Gardaí categorised the incident as a hate crime.

Their statements had also been opened in detail to the teenager during his engagement with the Probation Service and a restorative justice project.

The youth had 12 convictions on his criminal record for offences between 2020 and May last year — eight robberies, a burglary, trespass, criminal damage, and trespass.

He was subsequently placed on supervised probation for those offences.

The teenager, accompanied to court by his mother, still has a “significant” number of charges before the court but no alleged offences since December last year.

Grace Sullivan, defending, said a pre-sentence report showed that he had positively engaged with the Probation Service and a restorative justice programme since July.

The court also heard he was attending a training course and getting regular work.

The victims did not attend the hearing on Wednesday or the restorative justice conference with the teenager. But during that process, a person represented them and went through their impact statements in detail with the teenager.

Judge Paul Kelly said the latest probation report stated that he was a “different young man to the one the court dealt with earlier this year” and he heard the boy had quit drugs.

Judge Kelly said the defendant was the main aggressor and that he had inflicted “horrible injuries”; one of the women needed five months to recover, and the court heard they suffered psychologically. He noted the ongoing consequences, adding, “It has affected how they behave in public, and that is extremely unacceptable”.

The teen interacted with the judge during the sentence hearing to talk about work and his training course, and his intention to write a letter of apology to the two women.

Judge Kelly told him he was “very lucky to be walking out here today”.

Earlier, the court had heard that art student Robyn Deane and civil servant Kate McCabe had been waiting for a bus with plans to attend a National College of Art and Design presentation.

The boy and a man approached the shelter; Ms Deane would later describe in her statement how the teen "made himself big and screamed in her face".

He went away but walked back and shouted a derogatory term, "two fucking dykes”, and struck Ms McCabe "with a closed fist punch".

He shouted in her face and hit her multiple times, and she tried to fend him off when the man got involved and allegedly hit her from behind.

Robyn tried to separate them, and the boy "turned his focus on her", striking her multiple times "with a flurry of punches to her face and head".

Garda Declan Phelan, who investigated the crime, said that Robyn and Kate were an openly gay couple and believed the motive for the assault was because of their sexuality.

They suspected the boy targeted them because they had displayed affection by "kissing and cuddling in the shelter" beforehand.

The court heard that the boy and the man left, but their movements were captured on CCTV; the incident happened in broad daylight on a busy street, and the accused was on bail for another offence.

Independent witnesses came forward, with one describing the attack as "rage-filled", and another recalled one of the victims shouting "help me".

A passer-by said the teen was "flailing" at them.

Garda Phelan said the boy was the "main aggressor," and the incident lasted less than a minute.

Photos of their injuries and a medical report were handed into court. 

Ms McCabe suffered bruising to her neck, arms and hand, while her partner had soft tissue injuries, a black eye and swollen lips.

The court has heard that the teenager had experienced turmoil in his family life connected to parental alcoholism and drug use. Background issues and medical problems also had an impact on his level of maturity, the defence submitted.