A five-a-side football player has been sentenced to a two-and-a-half year suspended jail term and ordered to pay his victim €5,000 after injuring him in a tackle during a game.
Petru Pinto, 50, of Tyrrelstown, Dublin, admitted reckless assault causing harm after a tackle during a game in Dublin in 2012 left a player with a split kidney.
A jury had failed to reach a verdict on a charge alleging Pinto intentionally caused the injury, and he subsequently admitted being reckless.
Judge Pauline Codd sentenced Pinto to two and a half years in prison which will be suspended if he pays his victim €5,000.
The court heard Pinto had argued with fellow player Paul Ceusan during the game. In a tackle he ran towards Mr Ceusan, jumped up and his knees hit the man in the side causing him to fall.
His kidney was badly torn, needing a stent to be fitted to repair the damage and reconnect the kidney to the bladder.
Ceusan was off work for 20 weeks and has ongoing medical problems including high blood pressure and loss of kidney function.
Both men had been professional football players in Romania before moving to Ireland.
