Online row led to gamer being stabbed, court told

An online altercation between two combat video game players about Covid death figures led to a real-life stabbing, a court has heard.

Ciaran Cuffe, 49, with an address in Slieve Rua, Moate, Co Westmeath, pleaded guilty to assault in connection with the knife attack.

Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court heard that Cuffe and Rory Fagan had entered Battlefield V via PlayStation consoles in separate homes in Moate on 30 December 2020.

But they got into a heated row as they talked on their headsets about pandemic fatality levels, the court was told.

The argument turned violent when Mr Fagan, who was at a Church Lane apartment, drove to Cuffe’s home in Slieve Rua.

He was stabbed three times during a struggle.

Cuffe who is on bail, pleaded guilty to assault in connection with the knife attack, and Judge Keenan Johnson adjourned sentencing until November.

Garda Hayley Foley told the court the men had been talking on their headsets while playing the video game.

The pair, who had known each other for five years through gaming, discussed the coronavirus but “had a disagreement over figures and how deaths are recorded.”

Mr Fagan started shouting, and the accused told him to f**k-off. Cuffe claimed Mr Fagan warned him, “Never tell me to f**k off, or I will go down and drag you out the window.”

However, Cuffe told him to f**k off again and was expecting Mr Fagan to arrive at his house.

Five minutes later, Mr Fagan turned up at his door to confront him.

Cuffe claimed he had got the knife from his kitchen as a deterrent because he knew Mr Fagan was stronger and angry. He told gardaí that “in a blink of an eye”, his gaming friend grabbed him and put him into a headlock.

“I said let me go, or I will stab you,” he said. The court heard he thought he “nicked” Mr Fagan once under the shoulder, and claimed he did not intend to cause serious harm.

However, the court heard that during the scuffle, Cuffe stabbed Mr Fagan three times, puncturing his right chest, upper abdomen and lower right back.

Mr Fagan was bleeding heavily but made his way to his girlfriend’s home and was taken by ambulance to hospital.

He had internal injuries and needed two operations.

Gda Foley told the court that there was no evidence of alcohol consumption on the night

Mr Fagan was not in court today, but sent a victim impact statement saying he was lucky to make it to the hospital.

He stated the knife punctured his stomach, lacerated his liver, missed a shoulder artery by a millimetre, and he no longer had a belly button.

He said he had anxiety afterwards and very little power in his left hand, changed jobs, and he and his partner moved from Moate.

In his statement, he said he was annoyed at Cuffe’s Covid scepticism, only intended to put him into a headlock and could not understand why he had the knife.

Gda Foley agreed with John Short SC, defending, that both men had been friends who enjoyed playing computer games and Cuffe had helped the victim with home renovations.

She also accepted counsel’s suggestion that they were both decent men “caught in a moment of bizarre behaviour, given that we were in the throes of the second lockdown at that stage, and it was impacting on people’s fragility”.

Cuffe told the court he was wrong and truly sorry. He said he had not been in a fight since school and maintained that he feared his friend, who, he said, was stronger, angry, and temperamental.

Quizzed about why he did not stay inside, he explained that he knew he would have to face Mr Fagan in the town.

Further cross-examined by Mr Hayden, he admitted he still opened the door to the victim but insisted the knife was a deterrent.

Judge Johnson asked for a verified medical report on the victim to be furnished, as well as a probation report on Cuffe.