Two violent convicted drug dealers who attacked another man after he had been fatally stabbed in Dublin city centre last year have been jailed for three years.
34-year-old Quaham Babatunde died after he was attacked following a St Valentine's night out on South Anne Street in February 2025.
21-year-old Bruno Tache with an address at Trimleston, Balbriggan in Co Dublin and 22-year-old Rory Carr from Ard Na Gréine, Seapoint Lane in Balbriggan had pleaded guilty to affray and assault charges.
The violence began in the early hours of 15 February 2025 after an event at Club 22 on South Anne Street which 400 people had bought tickets for and the men had attended.
Bruno Tache drank large measures of spirits in the club but was thrown out at around 2am because he was drunk.
When his friends came out an hour later, he and Rory Carr got involved in a series of fights on South Anne Street, Duke Lane and Dawson Street.
Bruno Tache attacked a man while Rory Carr punched another man twice as nearby Quaham Babatunde was attacked and fatally stabbed.
Another man is currently before the courts in Northern Ireland charged with his murder.
Rory Carr punched and kicked a person while they were on the ground while Bruno Tache also attacked another man who then lost consciousness.
None of the two men were involved in the fatal stabbing but after Quaham Babatunde was stabbed, Rory Carr punched him eight times, although not all of the blows connected.
Carr had acted as a peacemaker earlier before becoming involved in the violence.
Bruno Tache kicked Babatunde in the head.
Detective Superintendent Katherina Joyce told the court at the sentence hearing that the gardaí identified suspects from the Balbriggan area and commenced arrests two days later.
When gardaí told Rory Carr after he was arrested and interviewed that someone had died, he replied: "I had nothing to do with this murder, I didn't know anyone was stabbed, I didn’t see a knife, I heard it on the news the next morning and God rest his soul."
Bruno Tache exercised his right to silence during questioning, but when gardaí asked him about his clothes he replied: "I’ll be honest with you the clothes are gone, everything is gone after the lads were arrested."
Rory Carr has 34 previous convictions and Bruno Tache has 20.
Both men were on bail on other charges at the time of the attack and both were serving suspended sentences for other offences.
Six victim impact statements were handed in to the judge last month but only one was read in court where the victim sustained an eye injury and said they had been left blind for some months.
The victim said he "has never been at peace since the day it happened" and that "the man who died was my best friend and it could have been me".
Judge Orla Crowe said today that both men had significant previous convictions and were on bail at the time and the seriousness of the crimes have to be marked with a custodial sentence.
She also said that while the events of that night did not take a lot of time, happening in a matter of seconds, they involved a huge amount of violence and lawlessness.
Both had expressed remorse and written letters of apology and Tache was now an enhanced prisoner.
She sentenced both men to three years and six months in prison with the final six months suspended in light of their relatively young ages and to encourage rehabilitation.
