This article is from page 18 of the 2007-10-30 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 18 JPG
A YOUNG man had his two front teeth knocked out when he was punched after a night
out in Ennis.
Luan Heta (36) of Ivy Hill, Ennis, was convicted of assaulting Rory Clohessy (20) in the early hours of No- vember 11, 2006.
Mr Clohessy told En- nis District Court that he saw Heta pulling a girl’s hair outside the Queen’s nightclub.
“T walked up and told him to cop himself on. He told me to r** off and he hit me to the face. My two front teeth were knocked out,” said Mr Clohessy.
Defending solicitor John Casey said his client admitted punching Mr Clohessy, but that it was in self- defence after Mr Clohessy and his
friends were “stuck in his face’’.
Heta, who is a bouncer but was not
working on the night of the assault, told the court he was “very scared”
and hit Mr Clohessy. However Inspector Tom Kennedy said, “Mr Heta, you are considerably larger than Mr _ Clohessy. Mr Clohessy is a very slight young man. It 1s incredible to suggest you were threatened by Mr Clohessy. You assaulted Mr Clohessy unprovoked.” Judge Eamonn O’Brien convicted Heta of assault. After hearing that he had two previ- ous convictions for assault, he im- posed a 12-month jail term, suspend- ed for two years. He fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.