On September 20th of last year, Dublin footballer Jonny Cooper was stabbed in the early hours of the morning on Dorset St. while he was making his way home after a night out.
Today, Mark Lavelle - originally from Swinford in Mayo - pleaded guilty to the assault.
During the court case, it emerged that Lavelle was on crystal meth when he stabbed Cooper nine times in the forehead, eyelid and neck.
Lavelle, who had no memory of the assault, also attacked a taxi driver on the same night and a man in Palmerstown on the previous night.
32-year-old Lavelle has 62 previous convictions and according to his legal team suffers from a mental disorder. His previous convictions include burglary, robbery, possession of knives and drugs and criminal damage.
The assault was featured on Crimeline two days after it occurred. So distressing was the CCTV footage, that a decision was made not to show it on RTÉ.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzNY2YXSqT8
Speaking to Sean O'Rourke on RTÉ after the assault, Cooper's father praised a taxi driver for coming to the aid of his son.
A passing taxi driver came upon the scene as the assailant was running off. Very kindly he stopped and looked after Jonny by calling the ambulance etc. So we're very grateful to that taxi driver. I've yet to speak to him but I have his name and number and I will be making contact because we very much appreciate the action he took. It probably saved him from a worse fate.
Lavelle will be sentenced on Thursday.
Picture credit: David Maher / SPORTSFILE
