A County Donegal man who glassed former Derry City footballer Barry Molloy after discovering he was having an affair with his wife will be sentenced on Tuesday.
Martin Cheung (39) from Ardban in Muff, a father of three, pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawfully and maliciously wounding Barry Molloy in Granny Annie's Bar in Waterloo Street in Derry at midnight on May 27 of last year.
Derry Crown Court was told that a second charge of unlawful wounding with intent would be left on the books, not to be proceeded with without leave of the court nor of the High Court.
A Public Prosecution Service barrister told Judge Elizabeth McCaffrey that Mr Molloy had told him during consultations that he did not believe Cheung meant to injure him to the extent which he had, nor did he want Cheung to be sent to jail.
The court was told that Mr Molloy is still in a relationship with Cheung's estranged wife.
As a result of the assault Mr Molloy sustained a laceration to his left ear and to the left side of his forehead and had to have eight stitches inserted in his wounds.
The court heard that glass fragments were removed from both lacerations by medical staff who treated the injured party in Altnagelvin Hospital's accident and emergency department.
The incident was captured on CCTV and the prosecuting barrister said it "all happened in a split second" when Cheung, who had earlier consumed five cans of beer and five pints of beer, lunged at Mr Molloy who was with a friend in the upstairs lounge of the bar.
He said Cheung was so drunk at the time that he did not realise he was holding a glass when he struck Mr Molloy.
Defence barrister Eoghan Devlin said that Cheung, who has no previous criminal convictions, wanted to apologise to Mr Molloy and to express his regret and remorse for inflicting the injuries on his victim.
He said Cheung also wished to acknowledge Mr Molloy's extremely generous and fair minded views of the incident.
The defence barrister said there has been no subsequent animosity since the assault which had been preceded by back and forth social media exchanges.
Cheung was released on continuing bail and will be sentenced on Tuesday of next week.
