A young woman who was left blind in one eye after an attack in Dublin almost four years ago has told a court she will never be the woman she was supposed to be.
Alanna Quinn Idris, 21, was giving victim impact evidence during the sentence hearing for Jack Cummins who pleaded guilty to his part in the attack in Ballyfermot in December 2021.
Jack Cummins, from Rossmore Road in Ballyfermot, pleaded guilty to procuring the commission of an assault causing serious harm to Ms Quinn Idris.
The court heard he made a phone call to his cousin, Josh Cummins, following a verbal altercation with Ms Quinn Idris' friend, Louis O'Sullivan, after they got off a bus in Ballyfermot on the night of 30 December 2021.
Three other young men then turned up at the scene, and Ms Quinn Idris and Mr O'Sullivan were attacked.
Ms Quinn Idris was injured when one of the young men, who has never been identified, swung at her face using a saddle he had removed from a bicycle moments earlier. She fell to the ground, unconscious, and some of the young men jumped over her as they continued to fight.
Josh Cummins, of Raheen Drive in Ballyfermot, was sentenced in November 2023 to five years with the final two years suspended for intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Ms Quinn Idris as well as violent disorder and producing a hurl.
He also pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Mr O’Sullivan.
Darragh Lyons, of Weir View, Glenaulin in Chapelizod, was jailed in March 2023 for four-and-a-half years for assault causing serious harm to Ms Quinn Idris, assault causing harm to Mr O'Sullivan and violent disorder.
Ms Quinn Idris told the sentence hearing for Jack Cummins that she had been permanently facially disfigured due to his actions and his decision. She said he had made the phone calls organising the attack.
She said it was not a random attack and she had had unpleasant encounters with Jack Cummins on previous occasions between the ages of 13 and 15, which had sometimes turned physical. She said she had stood up for herself because no one else made him accountable.
She said he and she both knew very well what he had done on the night of 30 December 2021, and she prayed he would receive the sentence he deserved.
Ms Quinn Idris said she was constantly reliving the moment, and the tiny differences that could have stopped what happened. She described the impact on her life - she had become isolated during the final months of her Leaving Certificate year and she had ended up dropping out of college twice due to the pressure of court hearings and multiple surgeries.
She said she had endured six surgeries to try to fix her eye socket and the surgeon had recently said she had done as much as possible but it still was not where she would like it to be. Ms Quinn Idris said she had been left completely and permanently blind and disfigured and did not look or feel like the same person. She said she was not sure she ever would.
She said she had missed school, work and college while Jack Cummins had time to do as he pleased. She said this made her so angry because none of this would have happened if he had not made phone calls that night.
Ms Quinn Idris described how she felt horror looking at her face. She said she needed more surgery but felt she would never look like herself. Due to the procedures she had, she said she could not bend down without blacking out.
Although she was working as a model - work, she said, she loved - she said it was always in her head about how much more she could have done, if she looked like she should have done and was not just working as an "inclusive" model. She described men jumping away when they saw her face, strangers asking her what had happened and kids being freaked out by her.
She said she would desperately like to have her life back and she told Judge Pauline Codd, the life she was supposed to live was taken away from her before she was even 18.
"I will never be the woman I was supposed to be", she said. And she told the court she sometimes wished she had never woken up after the assault.
Defence counsel, Keith Spencer on behalf of Jack Cummins said his client had no previous convictions and had suffered from mental health problems after this incident. He said Jack Cummins made the phone call to his cousin, because he was scared, but did not intend the consequences that flowed from that phone call. He also acknowledged that Jack Cummins could have put a stop to the attack but did not do it.
He said his client had an unblemished record and a probation report had assessed him at a low risk of reoffending and did not envisage a future role for the probation service in his life.
In an apology read by Jack Cummins to Ms Quinn Idris in court, he acknowledged that she hated him for what happened. He said he regretted her injuries and her suffering and would regret making that phone call for the rest of his life. He said he felt guilty every day and wished he could turn back the clock.
Jack Cummins said he should have just gone home and he honestly did not intend for any of this to happen.
The court heard Jack Cummins and his girlfriend were on a bus home to Ballyfermot just before 10pm on the night, when Ms Quinn Idris, Mr O’Sullivan and another friend got on.
There was no interaction between them on the bus.
But after they got off, Mr O’Sullivan called Jack Cummins back and asked him if he liked putting girls in headlocks, referring to an incident that had happened in previous years when Ms Quinn Idris said Jack Cummins had pushed her and put her in a headlock.
Jack Cummins and his girlfriend walked away while Ms Quinn Idris and Mr O’Sullivan were waiting outside their friend's house for her to get changed. Jack Cummins then made a series of phone calls and the other young men arrived at the scene.
Ms Quinn Idris was punched in the face by Darragh Lyons before being struck on the other side of her face by the unidentified man with the bicycle saddle. Mr O'Sullivan was struck multiple times with a hurl and with the saddle.
The attack lasted a minute and stopped when a passing motorist stopped their car.
Judge Codd told Ms Quinn Idris her resilience was remarkable and her courage was inspirational.
Jack Cummins will be sentenced on 29 July.
