SICKENING ASSAULT | 

Dublin thug involved in attack where teen had finger cut off loses appeal

The attackers cut off his finger and hacked at his face with a machete and sickeningly recorded a video of him covered in blood so they could boast of the attack to friends.

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A vicious thug who was involved in a gang attack during which a teenager had his finger cut off while his attackers recorded a video of the incident has had his appeal against the severity of his sentence dismissed.

Reece Lambert (19), from Bunratty Road in Coolock, Dublin, was sentenced to three years and two months’ detention for his involvement in the vicious attack in Artane, Dublin on January 2, 2020.

Lambert was part of a group of 25 teens armed with a variety of weapons, including machetes, poles, baseball bats and crowbars, who attacked Bartosz Bulanda at Thorndale Avenue at around 8.40pm on the night in question.

Gardaí said afterwards that Mr Bulanda was lucky to be alive, such was the savagery of the attack. He left Ireland with his family after the incident.

During the trial Mr Bulanda, who was 18 at the time of the attack, told how he was with group of seven friends who were chased by Lambert’s group and they caught up with him and pushed him to the ground.

He was hit initially with a pole before the feral mob hit him with weapons and punched and kicked him while he was on the ground.

The attackers cut off his finger and hacked at his face with a machete and sickeningly recorded a video of him covered in blood so they could boast of the attack to friends.

The victim said he realised afterwards he had been “sliced” by a person wielding a machete but couldn’t actually remember that happening.

He was rushed to hospital where he underwent surgery with major injuries to his hand, lips and nose as well as other injuries.

It was necessary to amputate the tip of his finger on his right hand and he suffered significant facial lacerations which left him with a permanent scar.

Court of Appeal President Judge George Birmingham said: “The injured party provided a victim impact report to the Court and referred to the very significant impact that the incident had had on him, referring to the fact that the physical scars that he had been left with will be a lifelong reminder of the terrible day.

“It is the case that in the aftermath of the incident, the family moved from Ireland to Poland — the injured party’s family were originally from Poland.”

His attackers’ video shows the teen lying on the ground drenched in blood before one of them kicks him in the face and a second attacker slashes at his face with a weapon.

The video was widely shared on social media since the attack and formed part of the garda probe into the attack.

Lambert was the only one of the youths involved in the attack to come before the courts.

He was identified as a suspect and gardaí raided his home where they seized a pair of runners which had a blood spot on them. A DNA profile was extracted which matched that of Mr Bulanda.

At the time, the Sunday World revealed that the people behind the attack were known as low-level drug dealers.

The Court of Appeal heard Lambert has six previous recorded convictions for drugs offences which all related to him and another associate being caught with drugs in the vicinity of Mountjoy Prison in March 2020 — two months after attacking Mr Bulanda.