Two men have been before Dublin District Court charged with a serious assault on a man in Temple Bar in the early hours of Wednesday morning last week.
The assault was described as a "truly vicious, violent and unprovoked" attack in which a man was left for dead and is still fighting for his life in hospital.
28-year-old Leonel Ricci, an Argentinian MMA fighter who was staying in a hostel in Dublin, and 36-year-old Dominic Smith with an address at Hunter's Green, Pollerton in Carlow, were remanded in custody, following bail hearings at Dublin District Court.
Both men are charged with assault causing harm to the man at Cope Street in Temple Bar on 18 February. The court heard the victim remains in critical condition at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin.
His facial injuries were so severe that he was identified by family members only after gardaí issued a photograph of a distinctive tattoo on his arm.
Detective Garda Gráinne Collier said gardaí would be strongly recommending to the Director of Public Prosecutions that the matter should go forward to be tried before a jury at the Circuit Criminal Court. She also said gardaí may seek to have other more serious charges brought against them.
Gardaí say two men, alleged to be Mr Ricci and Mr Smith were seen on CCTV footage walking from Liffey Street on Dublin to Cope Street in Temple Bar.
The victim was observed arriving at the area on an e-scooter three minutes later. Garda Collier said there was no interaction with the two attackers and no indication the victim and the attackers were known to each other.
She said it was a completely random attack. She said there was a brief conversation and the two men walked away. They returned a short time later and there was another verbal interaction.
After this, Garda Collier alleged CCTV showed Mr Ricci punching the victim a number of times in the face and head area. She alleged the victim was pushed to the ground and Mr Ricci held him down and violently punched him in the head and body. She said the second attacker who she alleged to be Dominic Smith then hit him a number of times in the head area.
She said the victim became lifeless, and Mr Ricci continued to punch him and then stamped on his face three times, before kicking him "football style" in his head and stamping him again.
The two men walked away and left the victim unconscious. However, she said Mr Ricci returned, got the e-scooter and "smashed it down on the victim’s face."Garda Collier alleged Mr Ricci then returned again, removed the victim’s shoes, and threw them away before snapping back the man’s right arm and breaking it.
She said he then rifled through the man’s pockets before the two men walked away and tried to gain entry to a nearby pub. The garda said the assault lasted for five and a half minutes.
The victim was taken to hospital and transferred to Beaumont Hospital where he is in critical condition although the court heard there had been some minor improvements in his condition in recent days.
Mr Ricci and Mr Smith were arrested in Smithfield in Dublin the following day after being spotted by gardaí who believed they matched the descriptions of the two attackers.
The court heard Leonel Ricci described himself as a professional MMA fighter from Argentina. He came to Ireland in November and was being supported by money from family members in Italy. The court was told his "lifelong ambition" was to be a garda.
He told gardaí he believed the injured man was a drug dealer and he used his MMA skills because dealers were killing people every day. He said he had come here because his father was Irish and he had been hoping to get a work visa to work in Ireland in order to pay to train in MMA.
Garda Michael Moore told the court the second attacker, alleged to be Dominic Smith, had approached the victim in an aggressive manner before Mr Ricci lunged at him. He alleged the second attacker had delivered four vicious kicks to the victim’s head and was observed shouting at him while he was unconscious on the ground.
The court heard Mr Smith described himself as an alcoholic and said he could often black out for days. He told gardaí he was a trained chef and would travel around Europe for work.
Garda Moore agreed with defence barrister Luke O’Higgins that when Mr Smith was shown footage of the incident after his arrest, he was quite taken aback and upset.
Mr O’Higgins said while there was no getting away from the fact that it was a serious incident, there was no reason not to grant his client bail.
However, both men were refused bail by Judge Máire Conneely and will be back before the court again on Friday.
