Longford man 'needed three brain surgeries' following 'cowardly assault for entertainment'

In a powerful victim impact statement to Longford Circuit Court last week, a young man outlined to Judge Keenan Johnson how he 'needed three brain surgeries in five weeks' following a ' unprovoked, unexpected and cowardly assault for entertainment'. 

Sean McCormack (20), of Rath Reagh, Smithfield, Legan, Longford, pleaded guilty to a Section 4 assault on Zac Martin at Main Street, Ballymahon on November 13, 2021.

Judge Johnson adjourned the case to May 9, 2023 to allow for the preparation of a probation report and an up-to-date victim impact statement.

He noted that Mr McCormack had €5,000 compensation in court: “This is a token that will ease some of Mr Martin's expenses, but money will not undo the harm.”

Money will not undo harm of horrific injury and experience suffered by Longford one punch assault victim

The following is Zac Martin's victim impact statement;

"My name is Zac Martin. On November 13, 2021 I woke up in a hospital bed covered in tubes and blood and surrounded by beeping machines. I didn’t know where I was or what had happened to me. My last memory was of crossing the road in Ballymahon.

My parents told me that I was in Beaumont Hospital. I had been assaulted and was after having brain surgery. I will never forget that moment. I couldn’t believe it and to this day I still find it hard to believe.

When my head hit the road after Sean McCormack punched me I fractured my skull and my brain immediately began a massive haemorrhage. I needed three brain surgeries in five months. Brain surgery is terrifying. I didn’t know if I would wake up after it. Or if I did wake up would I be the same person I used to be.

When Sean McCormack assaulted me I didn’t even have a chance to defend myself. It was unprovoked, unexpected and cowardly. It was an assault for entertainment. As I lay unconscious on the ground Sean McCormack did a celebratory dance.

I am now somebody who has a TBI which is a Traumatic Brain Injury. A large part of my skull was removed and replaced with a plastic part. So if I ever slip, trip, fall or am the victim of another assault this will leave my brain vulnerable.

I need medication every day to prevent seizures. I experience mental fatigue and frequent headaches. I have anxiety. I have to cope with low mood, periods of depression and hopelessness.

I need medication to try to sleep. I get night terrors. My body temperature doesn’t regulate properly.

Before I was assaulted I was diagnosed with other mental disorders.

The impact of the assault made these conditions worse and I now need extra dosages of the prescribed medication. I don’t feel safe when I leave my home and for a long time I was scared in my own home. My confidence and self-esteem are affected. I am self-conscious of the huge scar on my head that I will have for the rest of my life.

I have not been able to work for the past year. I have been financially dependent on my parents. I have not been able to go to college this year like I was supposed to. I had planned to study Counselling in Limerick. I am afraid now to go to college. My concentration and memory are no longer the same.

I can’t write. I feel like I am being left behind. My friends are getting on with their lives while I am relying on my family to take care of me. This is time in my life that I will never get back. I am nervous of what the future holds for me.

People tell me how lucky I am. I am lucky that the ambulance was called after my head hit the road. I am lucky that the staff in Mullingar Hospital transferred me to Beaumont Hospital so well. I am lucky that my Neurosurgeon, Catherine Moran, and her team in Beaumont Hospital had the skills to save my life.

But I was anything but lucky on November 13, 2021 when Sean McCormack assaulted me. I think Sean McCormack has been lucky. Lucky he didn’t kill me and lucky that I fought for my life. I would go through what I have gone through a hundred times rather than put another human being through this nightmare. I am a peaceful and forgiving person but what Sean McCormack did to me and my family is not something I could forgive.

Sean McCormack has no idea what we have had to endure because of what he did to me that night.

This experience has changed me. It scares me to think that Sean McCormack could have so easily killed me. My life would have been over and that is hard to get my head around.

I begin rehabilitation with Acquired Brain Injury Ireland next week. This is the first support that I am getting since this happened. Up until now I have been trying to do this on my own."