The victim of a random “unprovoked” attack was kicked in the stomach, knocked to the ground and left in pain after she went jogging in Dublin, a court has heard.
Hoyda Hamad, a Syrian national of no fixed abode who has used multiple identities, was jailed for three months on Wednesday over the incident on East Wall Road, Dublin 3, on the morning of July 26th last.
It happened 18 days after he received a suspended sentence for an earlier theft.
A barber by trade, the 35-year-old was charged with a section 2 assault, which carries a six-month sentence, as well as with providing a false or misleading name and address to a member of An Garda Síochána and with using threatening, abusive, or insulting words or behaviour.
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Hamad pleaded guilty last week and as such the woman did not have to attend the hearing or give evidence.
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Court Sergeant Olyn Murphy outlined the prosecution’s evidence on behalf of investigating officer, Garda Ruth Redmond.
Judge Patricia Cronin, at the sentence hearing at Cloverhill District Court, heard the incident happened at about 10.05am when the defendant assaulted the woman “by kicking her in the stomach, causing her to fall back on the ground”, and Hamad was verbally abusive towards her.
She also suffered a back injury, a swollen finger and her head was “throbbing” after the attack.
Gardaí attended the scene and Hamad gave a false name and date of birth before being arrested and brought to a station to be charged.
Judge Cronin noted he had two sets of previous convictions, one under the name Hamad with two theft convictions, which led to the imposition of a two-month sentence, suspended for one year, in Wexford District Court on July 8th. That term could now be activated.
He also committed several other crimes under a different name: three for vehicle theft and driving offences, one for drug possession, another for burglary, one trespass and another for failing to provide a passport as required. That resulted in a 10-month prison sentence from Cork District Court on July 31st last year.
In a mitigation plea, the defence counsel asked the judge to note that Hamad had pleaded guilty at an early stage, which was valuable given the moving victim impact statement, which was not read aloud during the hearing.
He had been remanded in custody on the date of the incident.
Judge Cronin said the victim’s statement was eloquent and outlined the psychological and physical injuries, “significant impact” and the life changes the woman made since the attack.
Sentencing, the judge took into account Hamad’s plea and previous convictions and that he had none under the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act or similar public order matters.
The three-month term was imposed on the assault charge, with the two remaining offences taken into consideration.
