Young man avoids jail for Quays assault
Keating paid €3,500 in compensation.
A young man has avoided prison for carrying out an unprovoked assault after paying compensation.
Caedyn Keating (20), of Oakwood, Cork Road, alongside two others, assaulted a man on The Quays on a night in November 2023.
CCTV footage captured Keating shadowboxing towards the victim right before attacking him. The victim suffered soft tissue damage to his nose and face.
While being interviewed by Gardaí after the attack, Keating said that the victim had been acting aggressively towards him. When asked by Gardaí why he punched him, Keating said: "I don't know."
Keating received a seven-month prison sentence from Waterford District Court for the attack.
In June 2025, he appealed the severity and informed Judge Eugene O’Kelly that he had raised €1,500. Judge O’Kelly ordered Keating to raise a ‘realistic’ sum for the victim and warned that he faced prison if he failed to do so.
However, he re-appeared at the District Court of Appeal in late 2025 to pay compensation totalling €3,500. Sitting Judge Christopher Callan suspended the sentence and ordered Keating to be of good behaviour and to keep the peace for a period of 18 months.
