Ballycastle brother pleads guilty to reckless GBH

Barry Lyttle was filmed on CCTV punching his younger brother, Patrick, outside a nightclub in Sydney in January.

Patrick Lyttle spent a week in a coma but made a good recovery. He asked the court to show leniency to his attacker.

Barry Lyttle broke down as a prosecutor said he should be jailed.

The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported that both brothers arrived together for the hearing at Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney on Thursday.

Patrick Lyttle read an emotional impact statement, saying “everyone can see how much my brother has suffered”.

He told the magistrate that the only way he could make a full recovery was for his brother Barry to be allowed to go home to Northern Ireland with the rest of their family.

“When my family is healed I will be healed,” he said.

Patrick Lyttle added that if his brother was released without jail, the pair intended to travel around Ireland together, speaking to young people about the consequences of violence.

However, a prosecutor said he believed that a full-time jail term was “the only appropriate sentence” for the attack.

Barry Lyttle is due to return to court to be sentence on 24 April.