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Teenager jailed for coma attack | Teenager jailed for coma attack |
(10 minutes later) | |
A teenager has been sentenced to 12 years in a young offenders centre for an attack which has left a man in a coma for the past two-and-a-half years. | A teenager has been sentenced to 12 years in a young offenders centre for an attack which has left a man in a coma for the past two-and-a-half years. |
Daryl Proctor, 18, from the Fountain, Londonderry, pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent on Paul McCauley in July 2006. | Daryl Proctor, 18, from the Fountain, Londonderry, pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent on Paul McCauley in July 2006. |
Mr McCauley and his friends were at a barbeque at Chapel Road, Derry, when Proctor, then aged 15, attacked them. | Mr McCauley and his friends were at a barbeque at Chapel Road, Derry, when Proctor, then aged 15, attacked them. |
Paul McCauley, who was 30 at the time, has never regained consciousness. | Paul McCauley, who was 30 at the time, has never regained consciousness. |
Daryl Proctor had been charged with attempting to murder Mr McCauley but pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent. | |
Mr McCauley sustained multiple injuries, including a brain haemorrhage and a fractured skull, when he and two friends were beaten by a gang of youths. | |
He suffered two heart attacks on the way to Altnagelvin Hospital and remains in a vegetative state. | |
Belfast Crown Court heard that his condition was unlikely to improve and he will require full-time care for the rest of his life. | |
Proctor - who was two weeks short of his 16th birthday when he took part in the sectarian attack - was linked to the attack by a baseball cap which was found at the scene. | |
The cap was forensically tested and DNA taken from the headband was found to match that of Proctor's. | |
In addition, Mr McCauley's blood was recovered from the heel of one of his trainers. | |
Trial judge Mr Justice Hart told the court the attack was "undoubtedly sectarian" as Proctor left his home in the Fountain estate and walked to the Waterside where a mob "picked on Mr McCauley and his companions because they were close to Chapel Road and so were thought to be likely to be Roman Catholics". | |
He said the three victims did nothing to provoke the attack but were "simply enjoying themselves and were picked upon because of where they lived in a way that is sadly all too familiar throughout Northern Ireland." |
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