By Conor Kane

A young man who killed a talented musician in an unprovoked attack on the street while he was on bail for another assault has been jailed for five years for manslaughter.

Craig McGrath (26) of Rathfaddan Park in Waterford city was on bail in relation to another unprovoked attack in a nightclub the previous year, when he punched musician Damien O’Brien (28) at least twice in the head in the early hours of July 7 last.

Mr O’Brien sustained a broken eye socket, broken nose and broken jaw as a result of the punches but was unconscious as he fell and was fatally injured when he hit his head off the ground.

He was rushed to University Hospital Waterford after the incident in the early hours of Saturday, July 7, and transferred to Cork University Hospital for specialist neurological treatment.

However, a number of surgical attempts to improve his condition were unsuccessful and he died, surrounded by his family, on July 13.

His sister Sandra wept as she read a victim impact statement on behalf of Damien’s family, and spoke of how he was devastated when her own 14-year-old daughter Cora passed away the previous Christmas after suffering a cardiac arrest. Damien had attempted to save her at the time.

She asked Judge Eugene O’Kelly to impose “a strict sentence” on Craig McGrath, who she said had been released on bail after his arrest while her brother lay in hospital.

“The image of Damien lying there fighting for his life will never leave us,” she said. “We were in severe shock and hoping for a miracle.”

She described Damien as a happy, healthy, talented young man who cherished his family and as a gentle soul who could never do enough for people.

“He lit up the lives of everyone around him.”

What tore the family apart was “the vicious manner his life was torn from him,” Sandra said.

The last thing he said to her “before he was taken from his family,” was “I will help you make it through this year,” following the death of her own young daughter.

“There was no room in his heart for hatred or aggression.” his sister said.

“Damian was the least violent young man you could ever imagine… On the night he was attacked he had been playing music with friends, his absolute passion in life. He loved entertaining people.”

The court heard that Damian, originally from Kilmacow in Co Kilkenny but living in Waterford city with his girlfriend Catherine Smith, had played a gig at The Hub in Waterford with his band Chimpanbee and was on his way home with Catherine at about 2.50am.

At the junction of Manor Street and John Street they met a young man she knew, who was with another man who turned out to be Craig McGrath.

They spoke to them briefly and walked off to get a taxi home. The other two young men later walked past them and Craig McGrath “made a derogatory comment” to Catherine.

Damian O’Brien turned around and “had words” with Craig McGrath and told him to leave Catherine alone.

“A couple of seconds later this fella [McGrath] punched Damian in the face twice,” she told gardaí at the time.

“I remember him falling to the ground and there was a thud as he hit his head on the ground. He [McGrath] hit him in a very aggressive way.”

The others “ran off,” she said.

The other young man gave a statement in which he said he didn’t know who the puncher was but later said he knew it was Craig McGrath.

CCTV footage which identified the assailant was shown in court. One clip showed Damian O’Brien being punched and falling to the ground and others showed Craig McGrath walking away with his friend, shadow boxing.

He was arrested the following day and interviewed four times but didn’t answer Garda questions, except on one occasion to deny that it was him in the footage.

A post-mortem examination carried out by Dr Linda Mulligan at CUH indicated that Damian O’Brien died as a result of brain stem haemorrhage and traumatic brain injury due to blunt force trauma to the head. He had been punched twice, first with a right fist and then a left fist in quick succession.

The court heard that the previous August 18, a Kiefer Dowling was in a nightclub in Waterford when Craig McGrath attempted to grab his phone. McGrath then headbutted Mr Dowling and struck him and, after the two of them were ordered off the premises, again punched him outside.

Mr McGrath was subsequently charged with assault causing harm and granted bail in the district court and was on bail when he fatally assaulted Damien O’Brien.

Judge Eugene O’Kelly put the manslaughter in the lower-to-middle level of the medium range of such offences and aggravating factors included the fact that Craig McGrath was on bail at the time for a similar-type offence.

He imposed a five-year prison sentence for the manslaughter and a consecutive two and a half years for the assault, suspending two years of the latter sentence, leaving a nett sentence of five and a half years.

Some members of Damien O’Brien’s family walked out of the courtroom upon hearing the sentence, describing it as “a disgrace” and saying “no justice in this country”.