A judge told Trim Circuit Court that three Romanian men whom he had jailed had engaged in “extraordinary acts of violence” outside a Navan pub in the lead-up to Christmas 2024. Two out of the three local men who were beaten up suffered injuries and all three expressed fear in victim impact statements of going out in Navan to socialise as a result of the violence they encountered. One of the men suffered a broke jaw and would have to spend the rest of his life with inserted plates and crews.
Before the court were Adi Calin (35), Dunville Meadows, Navan, Cornel Gheorghe (49), also of Dunville Meadows, and Ciprian Calin (32), Bridge Street, Navan who were charged with assault and violent disorder during the incident in Watergate Street. They pleaded guilty.
Barrister Shane Kelly representing Ciprian Calin said he had no previous convictions and asked him to express his “contrition and sorrow” for what had happened. His client was “a practising orthodox Christian” who also engaged in sport. He was not a hardened criminal and had found the whole episode “earth shattering”. “He wants to serve his sentence and leave Ireland”, he added.
Barrister James O’Brien for Adi Calin said that his client had some insight into what had happened. He had said in a statement to Gardai “I’m really sorry for what happened. We were drunk”. He accepted that that what had happened was not self-defence. He was deeply remorseful for his action.
Barrister Niall Gallagher for Cornel Gheorghe said that when presented with the evidence of the violence “in the cold light of day”, he was shocked. When shown evidence of what had happened he told Gardai “I can’t believe I am seeing all that. Up to today I never did anything like that”. He had apologised for his actions and had said he believed there was a language gap between the parties.
Judge John Martin said that the degree of violence which had gone on for a period of time had made him gasp. “There were men falling all over the place and when they got up they were knocked down again. It was a most extraordinary episode of violence. There was obviously no justification for the way you behaved. They [victims] were lucky not to have suffered even more serious injuries. One of those blows could have been a fatal blow”. Not one of the accused offered to help their victims. “They regrouped and came back. One man was left lying on the road with cars inching past close to his head”, he said.
The judge said the appropriate sentence for violent disorder in each case would be three and a half years and he mitigated this down to two and a half years. Adi Calin was sentenced to two and a half years on the assault causing harm charge, and Ciprian Calin and Cornel Gheorghe were each sentenced to two years for assault causing harm.
