{"id":486997,"date":"2026-05-16T01:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T01:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/486997\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T01:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T01:58:11","slug":"limerick-man-offers-compensation-to-victim-who-had-part-of-thumb-bitten-off-after-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/486997\/","title":{"rendered":"Limerick man offers compensation to victim who had part of thumb bitten off after dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"

A FATHER-OF-FOUR has admitted biting off part of another man\u2019s thumb on the grounds of a Limerick<\/a> hotel despite not having any memory of the incident.<\/p>\n

Damien Conway, aged 47, of Kilteragh, Dooradoyle, Limerick has pleaded guilty to assaulting Dean Burke on October 23, 2022.<\/p>\n

During a sentencing hearing at Limerick Circuit Court, Detective Sergeant Michael Reidy said the incident took place on a roadway at the Woodlands House Hotel, Adare at around 12:10am.<\/p>\n

Oktoberfest, a German-themed beer festival, was being celebrated that night.<\/p>\n

Judge Fiona O\u2019Sullivan heard there was a dispute between Dean Burke and others earlier in the night regarding drinks which were allegedly taken from another table.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT:\u00a0<\/strong>Judge says Limerick man was lucky to be picked up by garda\u00ed<\/a><\/p>\n

Lily Buckley BL, instructed by State solicitor Brendan Gill, said what ensued was an \u201cunusual incident\u201d and that the steiners of beer \u201cmay have contributed to matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court was told after Mr Burke and his friends decided to leave the hotel, he got into the rear passenger seat of a Ford Focus car.<\/p>\n

As this car approached a crossing on the grounds, the defendant appeared in front of it on the road.<\/p>\n

Sean Donegan, a passenger seated beside Mr Burke, told gardai the victim rolled the car window down and began shouting at Mr Conway to move.<\/p>\n

He was then approached and punched through the window multiple times. A woman involved in the earlier dispute was also present – she was later identified as Mr Conway\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n

While the altercation was taking place, the driver decided to accelerate the vehicle in an attempt to leave.<\/p>\n

Mr Conway grabbed onto the window while also holding Dean Burke\u2019s wrist. He ran alongside the car as it drove for 74 metres.<\/p>\n

After the defendant let go and fell, Dean Burke felt a sharp pain in his left hand and noticed part of his thumb, from the nailbed upwards, was gone. He could make out two \u201cbucked teeth\u201d marks on it.<\/p>\n

These marks were described as looking like someone had taken a bite out of a cake.<\/p>\n

Mr Burke attended University Hospital Limerick and the severed thumb was retrieved the next day.<\/p>\n

However, it was not possible to re-attach the severed portion and he underwent surgery to formalise the amputation.<\/p>\n

A doctor who assessed Mr Burke classed this as a \u201ctraumatic\u201d partial amputation.<\/p>\n

Judge O\u2019Sullivan heard that Dean Burke had consumed about four steiners of beer and described himself as \u201ctipsy.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told gardai he believed Mr Conway grabbed him because he either wanted to pull him out of the car or get in.<\/p>\n

The victim has struggled in the aftermath of the incident, experiencing issues with sleep, phantom pains as well as flashbacks.<\/p>\n

The injury has affected his daily life as his thumb is highly sensitive and cuts easily. He struggles with some utensils and tying his shoelaces can be a challenge.<\/p>\n

Mr Conway went to garda\u00ed after the incident and voluntarily gave his clothing to them days later.<\/p>\n

The father-of-four said he thought the group in the car had been drinking and shouting at his wife.<\/p>\n

He told gardai he remembered the vehicle going fast and his feet being dragged with it but that much of his memory is blank.<\/p>\n

While Mr Conway, who has no previous convictions, \u201cwas well on it\u201d by his own admission, he said he had consumed a \u201cnormal amount\u201d of alcohol on the night.<\/p>\n

Despite having marks on his face, he initially denied hitting and biting Mr Burke but as the interview progressed, he became more open to such a possibility.<\/p>\n

When asked directly if he bit the victim, he replied: \u201cThat\u2019s the million dollar question.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark Nicholas SC said his client is a family man who works in construction. He said he is a \u201cdecent fellow\u201d and accepts he must have carried out these acts despite having no memory of it.<\/p>\n

He added that \u20ac10,000 in compensation was being offered to the victim by his client.<\/p>\n

Dean Burke, the court heard, returned to hurling with his club this season and is trying not to let this \u201cdisfigurement\u201d bring him down.<\/p>\n

Upon hearing facts of the case, Judge Fiona O\u2019Sullivan said there is \u201ca lot to consider\u201d and put the matter back to June 3 for mention. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A FATHER-OF-FOUR has admitted biting off part of another man\u2019s thumb on the grounds of a Limerick hotel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[4527,9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,83705,60106,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-486997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-adare","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-latest-news","18":"tag-latestnews","19":"tag-limerick-circuit-court","20":"tag-limerick-courthouse","21":"tag-main-news","22":"tag-mainnews","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-top-stories","25":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116581781143128419","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}