An 18-year-old man has been told he needs “early and quite lengthy intervention” to address his issues after he was found guilty of common assault.

Kieran Quinn with an address at Sallys Wood, Irvinestown appeared at Fermanagh Magistrates Court in relation to an incident which took place in Enniskillen on July 28, 2017.

The court heard that on the day in question two young people were walking in the town when they were approached by the defendant who asked if he could have a drink of the fizzy drink that one of them had. At first the male refused but fearing for his safety he gave Quinn a drink.

The complainant then put his earphones back in and began to walk away. Quinn shouted at him that he was lucky, with the victim responding by asking: “How was he lucky?”

Quinn then proceeded to attack the victim who did not defend himself as there were others in attendance with Quinn who he feared might have intervened.

As a result of the attack, the victim sustained a lump to the head among other injuries.

A description of the attacker was given to police and he was later identified on CCTV as the defendant. Quinn was arrested and identified in a VIPER procedure and subsequently charged with common assault.

Defence solicitor for Quinn, Michelle McVeigh told the court that her client had been a juvenile at the time of the attack and although his behaviour was unacceptable he had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol that day.

Quinn had been living in sheltered accommodation at the time and him and two other males had went into Enniskillen to acquire more alcohol.

They approached the victim for the bottle and the result was the assault.

Mrs. McVeigh continued that the attack was unprovoked and her client accepted that and wanted to apologise to the victim.

Quinn had been living in sheltered accommodation and had issues with addiction. Mrs. McVeigh told the court that last week her client required medical intervention and was a “wake up call” to his addiction issues and he wanted to seek help.

In sentencing, District Judge Michael Ranaghan said the aggravating factor in the case was that it was an unprovoked attack and there is no reason why anybody should be faced with this when going about their business.

Judge Ranaghan took into account the defendant’s age and that he needed some intervention to address his issues.

He handed Quinn an 18 month probation order warning him that if he breached the order he may face some time in prison.