This article is from page 8 of the 2006-06-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
A JUDGE will rule next month if a young Shannon man is guilty of assault.
Before Ennis District Court was Mark Delaney (18), of Rossbracken, Shannon, arising out of an incident in March 2005.
Witness Thomas O’Connell (20) said the accused asked him for a cigarette, outside Supermac’s, in the early hours of the morning, and he said, “No.”
He said the accused headbutted him and hit him into the stomach.
Defending solicitor Caitriona Carmody said, “My client will say nobody assaulted you at all. You could have fallen over and not remembered it,” she added.
Garda Fiona Coleman said Mr O’Connell arrived at Shannon garda station in the early hours of March 20, and said he had been assaulted by the accused.
“He was in a very disorientated state. He had a cut to the upper bridge of the nose and was bleeding heavily,” she said.
The accused told the court he saw Mr O’Connell staggering around the place outside Supermac’s.
He said Mr O’Connell “came up to me. He walked very close to me. I thought he was going to hit me. I pushed him away and his glasses fell off.”
Ms Carmody applied for the charge to be dismissed. She said there were “several conflicts” between the evidence Mr O’Connell gave in court, to that contained in his statement to gardaí.
Judge Joseph Mangan adjourned a ruling on the assault charge until next month.