A man who had pleaded guilty to assault has had the probation act applied and agreed to pay compensation after Sligo Circuit Court was told he had been subjected to "abhorrent racism".
Ogaga Nwagiriga was a 22-year-old pharmaceutical student at IT Sligo at the time of the incident and admitted he had assaulted Polish man Bartosz Zukowski.
Mr Nwagiriga had been in the Garavogue Bar in the early hours of 11 March 2018 and was dancing with a Polish woman when Mr Zukowski approached them and insulted Mr Nwagiriga.
The court heard Mr Zukowski made a swing in the direction of Mr Nwagiriga but struck the woman and made racist comments about Mr Nwagiriga to her in Polish.
CCTV footage was shown in court which Judge Keenan Johnson said showed clearly that the complainant, Mr Zukowski, who is now 28, was very much the aggressor.
The two men were escorted from the premises and the court was told that Mr Nwagiriga was subjected to a continued barrage of racist abuse outside from Mr Zukowski.
Mr Zukowski left and Mr Nwagiriga admitted following him and striking him.
Friends of Mr Nwagiriga intervened, Mr Zukowski went home and the next morning went to hospital and was later treated for a triceps tendon rupture.
Two days after the incident, Mr Zukowski, who at the time had an address at Colish, Cairns Hill in Sligo, made a complaint at Sligo Garda Station.
In a victim impact statement, he said he did not feel safe here anymore and had decided to return to Poland. He said the triceps injury had affected his work as a car mechanic and he had lost his job in a garage.
The court was told that Mr Nwagiriga is now living in The Netherlands and is in full-time employment. Garda Kevin O'Hora said he had very much co-operated with the garda investigation.
Mr Nwagiriga told them that he had hit Mr Zukowski because of the abuse he got. He told gardaí it was a terrible idea to run after Mr Zukowski but he was not thinking right.
However, he said he would look him in the eye and apologise for what he had done so long as Mr Zukowski would take responsibility for his actions.
Barrister Keith O'Grady said his client was an Irish man, he had come here as a young child from Nigeria, "he's a scholar, a sportsman and a gentleman and didn't deserve this". He went on from IT Sligo to do a Master of Science in Belfast and is now doing very well in The Netherlands.
Judge Keenan Johnson said that Mr Nwagiriga was the victim of "abhorrent racism".
"It makes my stomach churn when I hear such comments," he said. The comments were very racist, provocative and appalling and the judge said it shocked him to the core that someone like this was subjected to that. He condemned it in the strongest possible terms.
However, the judge said that Mr Nwagiriga had over-reacted on the night; he had pursued Mr Zukowski and perpetuated a serious assault in the heat of the moment.
Judge Johnson said that Mr Zukowski had suffered injuries which impacted on his work as a mechanic and while he did not have huge sympathy for him, some compensation for that has to be taken into account.
Judge Johnson said the offence was a momentary lapse of judgement. Directing Mr Nwagiriga to pay Mr Zukowski €3,000 in compensation and applying the Probation Act, Judge Johnson said, "it has to be said that this was an exceptional case".
