A Dublin man has been jailed for three years for two offences during which he viciously attacked his unarmed victims with a glass bottle.
The first victim had risen to be sick in the bathroom the morning after a house party and had returned to find Stephen Nolan (31) in his bed.
Nolan beat the man about the head with a bottle when he was asked to get out.
The father-of-one had been on bail for this assault when he robbed a second male's car keys and took off in the vehicle after attacking him with a broken bottle.
Nolan, of Kippure Park, Finglas, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting Ryan Perkins causing him harm at Cairn Court, Ballymun on December 13, 2014.
He further pleaded guilty to robbing car keys at Poppintree Terrace, Ballymun on January 1, 2015.
He has 128 previous convictions, including 10 assault offences, two endangerment crimes and one robbery.
The court heard that the first victim flagged a garda car down on the road a short distance from his apartment after being attacked.
Detective Garda Ronan McMorrow told Vincent Heneghan BL, prosecuting, that Mr Perkins had been “bleeding profusely” and was taken to hospital with bruising and lacerations.
Gardai arrested Nolan in the apartment and noticed blood on the stairs, floor lining, sheets and in different areas of the bedroom.
They also saw dried blood on Nolan's hands and face.
Det Gda McMorrow said the second victim had been parking his car when Nolan approached “swinging his arms” with the top of a glass bottle in his hand.
He demanded the car keys as he hit the victim and bit him on his knuckle in the struggle.
Nolan managed to drive off in the vehicle, but left his mobile phone at the scene.
Det Gda McMorrow said this second injured party didn't make a Victim Impact Statement, but medical evidence showed he suffered ear and neck lacerations.
The detective agreed with Aidan McCarthy BL, defending, that his client co-operated and gave gardai no difficulty when arrested.
He further agreed Nolan said he had been trying to cope with his father's recent death.
Mr McCarthy submitted to Judge Desmond Hogan that his client had problems with alcohol and drugs.
He said Nolan might be “institutionalised” as he has spent half his life in custody.
Counsel revealed that Nolan's father had been the only family member to visit him in jail.
Judge Hogan commented that in the first attack, Nolan should have left his victim's bed instead of “going into pugilistic mode with a bottle.”
The judge accepted Nolan has had a difficult life, but noted that none of his siblings had ever been in trouble.
He imposed a two year sentence for the assault to run consecutive to a three year sentence for the robbery.
He suspended the final two years of the sentence to give Nolan “light at the end of the tunnel.”