Jailed for single punch assaults

Declan Paul Butcher (25), of Roe Park Court, admitted grievous bodily harm and assault on October 2, 2014.

Londonderry Crown Court heard he assaulted two men in one punch attacks; the first injured party was walking along Main Street and remembered nothing until he woke up in his partner’s home, the second injured party recalled seeing someone lying on the ground and the next thing he knew he was in the Accident and Emergency Department of Coleraine Hospital.

There were reports that the second man had gone to the assistance of the first.

CCTV showed Butcher hitting both men once.

Passing sentence, Judge Philip Babington said: “I cannot ignore what he did that night. This was gratuitous violence inflicted on two completely innocent people. It is completely unacceptable that people are unable to walk the street of Limavady without being attacked”.

The judge imposed a determinate sentence of 14 months.

Butcher will serve half of that sentence in custody and half on licence.