A teenager from Londonderry’s Fountain estate was yesterday ordered to serve 12 years detention in a young offender’s centre for his role in a sectarian attack which left a man in a coma.

Paul McCauley sustained multiple injuries, including a brain haemorrhage and fractured skull, when he and two friends were beaten by a gang of youths in the Chapel Road area of the Waterside in the early hours of July 16, 2006.

Mr McCauley, a 32-year-old father-of-one, suffered two heart attacks on his way to Altnagelvin Hospital and remains in a vegetative state.

Belfast Crown Court heard Mr McCauley’s condition is unlikely to improve and he will require full-time care for the rest of his life.

Appearing in the dock yesterday was 18-year-old Daryl Proctor, from the Fountain area in Derry, who pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent to Mr McCauley.

Proctor — who was part of a gang of up to six people involved in the attack on Mr McCauley and his two friends — also admitted a charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent on Mark Lynch, who sustained a fractured jaw, and attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to Gavin Mullin.

Proctor pleaded guilty to the charges on the grounds he was a participant in the joint enterprise to attack the three friends, but he did not kick or stamp on Mr McCauley’s head, which resulted in the serious head wounds.

The court heard that as the three victims were standing chatting at a barbeque, a group of youths “rushed out of the darkness and attacked them”.

Mr Millan sustained minor injuries, while Mr Lynch’s jaw was broken, which was treated by the insertion of three metal plates.

Speaking of the “catastrophic consequences” of the unprovoked attack on Mr McCauley, Mr Justice Hart said it had reduced the victim “from a healthy young man to someone who, at the age of 32, is probably in a vegetative state”.

“He will require full-time care for the rest of his life and his life expectancy has been reduced.”

The Judge also spoke of the McCauley family’s lives being “blighted by these events” and told the court the victim’s relatives “are concerned that only this defendant has been made amenable as there were several others in the group that attacked him”.

Proctor — who was two weeks short of his 16th birthday when he took part in the attack — was linked to the attack by a baseball cap which was found at the scene.

The cap was forensically tested and DNA from the headband was found to match Proctor’s. In addition, Mr McCauley’s blood was recovered from the heel of one of his trainers.

As well as detaining Proctor for 12 years, Mr Justice Hart ordered him to serve a year on probation when he is released from Hydebank YOC.

Speaking outside the court, Paul's father Jim said that while the sentence imposed by Mr Justice Hart reflected the “severity of the crime,” he added that his son's life expectancy “is likely to be less than the sentence”.