Irish student pleas for mercy on attacker

A 30-year-old Australian man who hit and severely injured an Irish student with a traffic cone has escaped a prison sentence.

Andrew Smith was ordered to carry out 180 hours’ community service by a judge at the High Court in Edinburgh after he threw a cone from the George IV Bridge in Edinburgh city centre on to Merchant Street below were 24-year-old Kate Flannery was standing talking to friends.

The impact of the cone left Miss Flannery with a fractured skull and three broken vertebrae as well as damage to her spinal cord, which left her arms and legs paralysed for several months.

Miss Flannery, from Galway in the Republic of Ireland, has previously said she forgave Smith for her injuries and following months of hospital treatment she is now able to walk again.

Miss Flannery had been studying occupational therapy at the city’s Queen Margaret University for 18 months before the accident and the court heard today that she put the incident down to a ‘stupid prank’.

Judge Lady Dorrian, sentencing Mr Smith today, said she would not be recommending that Mr Smith should be deported as a result of the incident.

Mr Smith’s parents, who had flown in from Australia for the sentencing today, were prepared to pay 30,000 Australian dollars, the equivalent of £10,000, in compensation to Miss Flannery.

Lady Dorrian said any amount would be derisory in light of the impact on the young student, although she is still able to claim under the criminal injuries compensation scheme.

(SB/SP)