A 20 year-old Limerick man who ended his professional rugby career after he knocked a security doorman unconscious, has avoided a prison sentence at Limerick Circuit Court.
Toby Ademakin played with Garryowen rugby club and Munster Rugby’s underage teams but on a night out over Christmas 2014, he punched security man Noel Guerin and knocked him out in an incident he said he will regret for the rest of his life.
Mr Guerin (42) was a well known security man worked in various bars and nightclubs in the city for many years and was on duty at Molly’s Bar in Ellen Street when Toby Ademakin was refused access to the premises. He had been previously barred from the popular nightspot.
The former rugby star was passing Molly’s later that night when he had a brief exchange with Mr Guerin who he punched and knocked to the ground.
Judge Tom O’Donnell said that Ademakin “delivered a single sucker punch with catastrophic consequences”.
Mr Guerin didn’t remember anything after the punch which Gardaí described as “significant and not a very fair blow” delivered for no apparent reason.
Detective Garda Dave Burke said that Toby Ademakin, a former LIT student, had lived all his life in Limerick and had a “promising sports career” with Munster Rugby.
Mr Guerin, who was out of work for five weeks, was initially treated and released from hospital but was re-admitted sometime later suffering from severe headaches. He had bruising to his left and right frontal lobes and a bleed.
He suffered from memory loss and loud noises still affect him.
Noel Guerin never returned to work in bar and nightclub security, reduced his involvement in underage coaching and took early redundancy from his store manager’s job at a local supermarket.
Defence counsel Michael Collins said his client’s “sporting career suffered as a result of his actions as this type of thing would put him off the radar immediately.”
He is now living and studying in the UK as he tries “to pick up the pieces of a horrible decision he made.”
Suspending a three year prison sentence for five years, Judge O’Donnell ordered that €5,000 be paid to Mr Guerin in recognition of the loss he suffered.
