A man has been sentenced to 12 months in prison for assaulting Dale Creighton (20), who died in hospital after being attacked in Tallaght in Dublin on New Year's Day.
James O'Brien (22) of The Mill, Baltinglass, Co Wicklow, pleaded guilty last June to assault causing harm.
Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy sentenced O'Brien to two and a half years in prison, with 18 months suspended.
Seven other Dubliners in their 20s are also charged in connection with Mr Creighton's death. They are awaiting trial for murder.
Dale Creighton was beaten to death shortly after ringing in the New Year at a house party in 2014 as he crossed a footbridge in the south Dublin suburb.
His attackers had allegedly accused him of stealing a handbag and a phone.
He died in hospital two days later.
The court heard James O'Brien - who had come from a niteclub New Year's Eve celebration - got out of a car at the bridge on St Dominic's Rd at around 3.50am and was caught on camera punching and kicking Dale as he lay on the ground.
O'Brien initially claimed he only stopped after seeing two people arguing, but later admitted what he had done.
Today, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy described the 90 second attack as "cowardly".
