A man who was savagely attacked by convicted Limerick brothers Cian and Daragh Hayes said that, in his opinion, the Kildimo siblings deserved longer sentences than they received when compared with sentences given to other people convicted of crimes.
The unprovoked attack on completely innocent Mr Ryan, occurred at Daragh Hayes’s home, on September 29, 2021.
The Hayes brothers beat the former Limerick minor footballer with a hurley and an industrial-sized steel wrench, after they became fixated about a perceived relationship between Mr Ryan and Daragh Hayes’ ex-partner, which, in fact, there was no evidence of.
On Thursday, Cian Hayes (33) was sentenced to two and half years in jail with the final six months suspended, and Daragh Hayes (37) was jailed for three years with the final six months suspended. The two siblings pleaded guilty to assault causing harm and producing the hurley and wrench during the assault.
Speaking for the first time following the sentence, Mr Ryan told this reporter: “I don’t think it is justice compared to what other people get in the courts.”
“Last Christmas, I saw a woman get two years jail for shoplifting, and Cian Hayes only got two years for what he did to me, he punctured my lung, battered my arm, my bruises, he did damage to my body,” Mr Ryan said.
“Cian was vicious, he (attacked) all my left side, that’s where I have the steel plate in my hand, where all my rib-cage was broken, that’s where I nearly died.”
“Daragh was beating me on the opposite side with a hurley, it was brutal,” he added.
Mr Ryan said he felt particularly “betrayed” by Cian Hayes, as they had been childhood friends and Mr Ryan was to be Cian’s Best Man at his wedding.
The Hayes brothers sentencing judge, Colin Daly, said Mr Ryan was “lured” by them to Daragh Hayes’ house, which is located behind his parents house at Ballyashea, Kildimo, on the pretense that Mr Ryan and the two bothers were going to discuss Cian Hayes’ impending nuptials.
However, within seconds of entering the house, Mr Ryan found himself being interrogated by father of one Cian Hayes and father of three Daragh Hayes about what was actually an entirely innocent text message between Daragh Hayes’ ex-partner Claire McNamara and Mr Ryan.
The two brothers beat Mr Ryan with an adult-sized hurley and a foot-long steel wrench breaking several of his bones and puncturing one of his lungs.
“They beat me like they wanted me dead,” Mr Ryan wrote in his victim impact statement, which he read out in court.
Speaking Friday, Mr Ryan said he was flabbergasted at the sentences handed down to the two men.
“I just don’t understand it – so Cian Hayes gets out of prison in two years, I can’t comprehend how that is justice, he punctured my lung with the steel wrench,” Mr Ryan.
“I was protecting my face with my hands as he was beating me, that’s why he broke my hand in several places and that’s why I have a steel plate fitted there.”
“As I would put my hand up to my face he (Cian) would then strike at my rib cage and my lungs, puncturing my lung.”
Mr Ryan revealed that a surgeon had told his mother prior to one of his many operations to repair his broken body, “if his recovery doesn’t go well after the operation there’s a 50-50 chance that your son will die”.
“So, two years is justice for a 50-50 chance at my life; I can’t see how that is justice,” Mr Ryan said.
Despite having being charged with the vicious assault, Cian Hayes remained captain of the Kildimo-Pallaskenry Junior B hurling team and was celebrated locally after the team won the Junior B hurling county final, lifting the cup, last November. Daragh Hayes coached with the club after his playing career ended abruptly due to injury.
“How could you make that animal captain?,” Mr Ryan said.
Mr Ryan said he was “really hurt” when some people in his parish continued to speak up for Cian and Daragh Hayes, “knowing well what the two brothers did to me”.
“It’s just crazy how people can back this family up just because they are good sports people, it’s just weird, it’s just very very weird,” he said.
In court, Kildimo-Pallaskenry GAA Club, as well as Cian and Daragh Hayes’s retired secondary school principal, John Egan, provided testimonials on their behalf, and Cian Hayes’ employer Regeneron, where he is employed as a senior project engineer, provided a work certificate, and the court heard he had a good work ethic.
Mr Ryan said he “appreciated” a visit from a representative from Kildimo-Pallaskenry GAA Club following the sentencing hearing, who provided him with a supportive letter from the club.
The letter, seen by this reporter, stated that Mr Ryan’s “leadership on the field during his playing career gained him the respect of the players, management team and club officials”.
Mr Ryan said in his victim impact statement how “a veil of darkness” had lingered around him in his local community following the attack.
