Kildare rugby player jailed for unprovoked attack on couple

Published on 29 May 2025

A rugby player who launched an unprovoked attack on a couple who were out socialising, leaving the female victim “unable to recognise” her own face in the mirror, has been jailed for two years.

Barry Grey (23), Corballis, Castledermot, Kildare pleaded guilty to assaulting the couple, causing them harm at The Barracks pub, Tullow Street, Carlow on 25 June 2023. He has no previous convictions.

The court heard at a previous hearing at Carlow Circuit Criminal Court that the woman told gardaí that she and her boyfriend went to the vending machine to buy a vape and that two men were there.

She saw something happen between her boyfriend and a dark-haired man before Grey, whom she didn’t know, turned and hit her boyfriend, knocking him down.

She told gardaí that when she went to help her boyfriend, she was punched in the face, but wasn’t sure how often, and that there was blood all over her face, hair and hands.

The woman was brought to St Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny, where she was treated for her injuries, which included a laceration over her eye, a burst lip and swollen tongue, while her face and head were badly bruised.

Tara Geoghegan BL, defending, told the previous hearing that Grey is a rugby player who went to college on a scholarship and is now doing a master’s degree.

Ms Geoghegan told Judge Eugene O’Kelly at that a probation report was now before the court which indicated that Grey had linked in with a number of professionals and had consulted with a neurosurgeon in relation to his “low mood”.

She said he had suffered a number of concussions through his rugby career and her client is aware that he is no longer able to take part in the sport at the level he had hoped to.

Ms Geoghegan said a probation report put her client at the lowest risk of re-offending and advised the court that he has strong family support, with his parents present for the sentence hearing.

Counsel acknowledged that Grey was remanded in custody following the evidence at the previous hearing. She said he is doing well since his remand in custody and is on an enhanced regime in the prison.

Judge O’Kelly said there was nothing to justify Grey’s attack on the couple, noting from CCTV footage previously shown to the court that they were trying to help Grey in getting a vape from a vending machine.

He said Grey “misread the situation” as he had taken a considerable amount of alcohol.

Judge O’Kelly accepted that Grey acknowledges the couple didn’t pose him any threat and that his actions were unjustified.

The judge said there were two very violent attacks carried out in a short time that had significant consequences for the couple.

He said the male victim was knocked out with one punch from Grey and that he has since suffered from dizziness and headaches. His victim impact statement indicated that he is angry that he could not protect himself and his girlfriend.

Judge O’Kelly said the woman’s victim impact statement said the attack “consumed our lives for months and months”.

She said the first few months were “brutal – my face was every colour under the sun” and said that she didn’t recognise her face in the mirror.

Judge O’Kelly said Grey obviously knew he was a strong person in that he been playing rugby at a national level at the time and was “a very strong and agile person”.

He said the offence warranted a headline sentence of four years in prison before he reduced this to a term of three years having taken into account an early guilty plea, the fact that Grey had no previous convictions and that he €6,500 in court as a demonstration of his remorse.

Judge O’Kelly suspended the final year of that term on strict conditions.