'I can no longer do what other 21-year-olds do,' Tipperary assault victim tells court

In a powerful victim impact statement delivered to Nenagh Circuit Court, the Upperchurch assault victim Ross Whelan outlined his injuries, recovery, rehabilitation and how life-changing the impact of the assault had been on his life.

A Drombane man was found guilty of assault causing serious harm in Upperchurch in June 2021 and was sentenced to four years in prison at Nenagh Circuit Court last Friday
Patrick Burke (21) of Roskeen, Drombane was given a four-year sentence, two of those years were suspended for a period of two years on the condition that he attended Probation Services and attended anger management and addiction services.
A charge of violent disorder was taken into account.

In court at the sentencing hearing a young Cashel hurler spoke about how his life had changed from the night of that assault:

“I was injured in a very serious assault in Upperchurch that left me intubated, unable to breathe on my own, and in a coma for ten days.
“The assault on me resulted in a bleed on the brain and a fractured temporal bone in my skull and left me with a severe traumatic brain injury.
“I had to have my head opened and the whole front part of my skull across my forehead back to the centre of my head removed to allow room for my brain to swell. In cases like this, that portion of the skull is put into the abdominal area of a patient to keep it alive so that it can be replaced when the swelling subsided but I was losing weight so rapidly and had gotten so thin that wasn’t possible so when I eventually woke up from the coma I was told I would have a titanium plate fitted into my skull to replace that bone.
“I was left for months with nothing protecting my brain at the front of my head only skin because they had to wait for the swelling to subside and then the plate had to be exactly measured and made to fit it. During this time my Mam actually slept on the floor in my room every night to make sure I was okay. On November 8 I was brought back down to Cork University Hospital to have the plate fitted.
“When I woke up in CUH Cork after the assault I had no memory whatsoever of what had happened or where I was. I was attached to machines and I was a frail shadow of the person I had been before. I couldn’t sit up in the bed without assistance. I couldn’t walk and I needed a wheelchair for months to get around. I was in a huge amount of pain and I still am with the brain injury. I had to be taught to walk again I had to spend months and months of intensive physiotherapy retraining myself to support myself. I was not allowed to drive for over a year.
DEFER COLLEGE
“I was so weak in September 2021 and still relying on a wheelchair that I was not able to start the course in UL that I had been offered and accepted.
“I had to defer it and watch all of my friends head off to college while I sat at home learning to walk again with no skull cap protecting my brain and severe debilitating headaches which still affect me to this day. I started college in 2022 in UL with the assistance of the disability services.
“Before the assault and my injuries from it, I never had problems with study or school work and never needed any additional assistance.
“Now I really struggle with concentration, I am forgetful, I find it difficult to retain information and I have difficulty concentrating during lectures trying to pick up all the necessary and important information.
DEPRESSION
“I find that I am very short-tempered and hard on myself when I struggle and I wish all the time that I could just return to my normal self before I had this brain injury. Since the assault and my brain injury, I have had to attend Headway Counselling because of the depression and anxiety episodes I have experienced. I would have always been carefree and easygoing before the assault and now I am experiencing regular episodes of anxiety and depression.
“These have become so bad at times that I have thought that I was having a heart attack and have had to attend Swift Care clinics and have had ultrasounds and CT scans that show my anxiety was actually causing an irregular heartbeat.
“I can no longer do what other 21-year-olds do and I have to think everything through and examine every little thing in detail nothing is spontaneous anymore. I have to make sure everyone that I am with is aware of my situation in case I was to have a seizure or headache and it is actually telling my parents that I am going out or away is the hardest because I know the stress that this causes and the worry that I bring onto them daily.
“They are constantly worried about me and that is very hard for me to take.
“I am also left with a huge scar that runs from ear to ear across the top of my head and even on the days and times I don’t feel like explaining myself of my injury the questions inevitably come from new people I meet about how I got the injury I can never just be myself. I am always going to be Ross Whelan with the brain injury that leads to anxiety and depression.
“There is a worry about the long-term prognosis as it’s not known. I have been asked to partake in a study into the use of titanium plates s no one knows the long-term effects of the use of them or the consequences of them.”