A sigh of relief for the Lyttle family today as 33 year old Barry Lyttle was given a 13 month suspended sentence.
The Antrim man was arrested after he punched brother Patrick, causing him to fall backwards banging his head leaving the 31-year-old in a critical condition in a Sydney hospital.
The whole incident which was caught on CCTV was a huge accident and when Barry recovered he fully acknowledged his brothers apology and asked for the charges to be dropped.
The brothers have no resentment towards each other which was shown when the judge in Sydney handed down his decision and the two brothers hugged in court.
The Lytte family who were forced to stay in Australia until Barry’s charges had been dropped can now move back home to Ireland.
Speaking after today’s court hearing Barry Lyttle said: “We’ve made a big mistake and we’ve paid the price for it.”
Samantha Brett, court reporter with Channel 7 News in Sydney, said there were emotional scenes in court today.
“They were hugging; they were crying…They’ve just been desperate to go home,” she said.
“Patrick thankfully made a full recovery. He gave an emotional victim impact statement last week in court, which the magistrate took into account.
“He said he also took into account Barry’s guilty plea and that he showed remorse.”