Derry man jailed for ear biting assault

A Derry man who bit a portion of another man’s ear off in an assault was jailed at Derry Crown Court.
22 year- old Gregory O’Hagan from 8, Glenbrae Gardens and Michael Patrick Dixon also 22 and of 19, Kavanagh Court both admitted being involved in the incident that occurred on October 2 2010.
The court heard that on the night in question the injured party had been out with his wife and stopped at a hot food outlet.
While in the queue an altercation started involving the injured party but this ended without violence.
However, the court heard that at this point O’Hagan intervened and a fight broke out and Dixon joined in.
Both men attacked the injured party and punched him.
Judge Piers Grant said that O’Hagan had behaved ‘like a wild animal’ and had kicked the injured party to the head and bitten a portion of his ear off.
The court heard that the injured party had been off work for four weeks after the incident.
Judge Grant said that Dixon had played a lesser role and was not the instigator of the incident.
He said that the courts would not tolerate drunken assaults and the fact that there had been kicking and biting made this a serious assault.
He sentenced O’Hagan to 18 months in prison with 12 months of that on licence.
He told Dixon that he had escaped prison ‘by the skin of your teeth’ and sentenced him to 15 months probation.