News

Feb 13, 2024

Dylan Mawhinney: Craigavon thug who ripped man’s ear off with pliers ‘just flipped’

His victim has been left permanently scarred and disfigured as a result of the brutal and sustained assault in his own home. Dylan Mawhinney This is the thug who has been jailed after he subjected a

His victim has been left permanently scarred and disfigured as a result of the brutal and sustained assault in his own home.

Dylan Mawhinney

This is the thug who has been jailed after he subjected a man to an “appalling act of violence”, by ripping off part of his ear with pliers.

Dylan Mawhinney was handed a four-and-a-half-year sentence, with a judge remarking that he is “amassing quite a record” despite being only 23 years old.

Mawhinney must serve half his sentence in jail and half under supervised licence for the horrific attack which took place in November last year.

The thug, from Clanrolla Park in Craigavon, Co Armagh, had pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent.

His victim has been left permanently scarred and disfigured as a result of the brutal and sustained assault in his own home.

A previous hearing was told he was sitting on the sofa when Mawhinney walked in and hit him on the head, then punched and kicked him all over his body as he lay on the floor.

Battered unconscious, the rest was a blank — the appalling level of violence inflicted would only be disclosed later in court.

Mawhinney used a pair of pliers to rip off part of his victim’s left ear.

When police arrived at the house, they found a torn part of an ear beside the bloody pliers on the kitchen bench.

In addition to the mutilation, the victim had also sustained a large gash above his right eye which needed stitches.

When Mawhinney was arrested and interviewed, he initially refused to answer police questions, but later admitted that he had assaulted the victim and used the pliers to rip off part of his ear.

Continually referring to the victim in “highly derogatory terms”, Mawhinney told police that he was “off his head and that he has a very, very bad temper”, admitting that after the victim punched him once, he “kept beating him and beating him — [I] just flipped”.

At Craigavon Crown Court on Monday it was revealed that Mawhinney has 41 previous convictions and was on prison release for aggravated burglary at the time of the offence. This related to an incident in November 2019 when he broke into a house armed with a machete.

The court was told that in September 2020 Mawhinney was arrested after he smashed a car window, and when cops arrived at the scene, they saw him brandishing a knife.

When he saw the police, knowing what was likely to happen, he threw the knife to the side and lay down on the ground, with his hands on his head.

During the sentencing hearing for this latest crime, a defence lawyer said the defendant had been instructed to “apologise formally to the victim and the court, for what it’s worth”.

Judge Patrick Lynch KC said even a brief outline of the facts “gives an indication of what the horror of the situation must have been. To take pliers and then cut somebody else’s body is an appalling act of violence perpetrated on this victim.”

Judge Lynch said it was a “close call” that Mawhinney was not assessed as a dangerous offender but warned that would change if he re-offended.

“Any further offences, especially of serious violence, will almost certainly result in a finding of dangerousness, and you know the consequences of that,” he told Mawhinney.

“Whatever sentence is imposed, you could serve every single second of it”.