This article is from page 74 of the 2008-11-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 74 JPG
A WEST Clare man suffered sub- stantial hearing loss after being at- tacked on a street by his brother-in- law, a court heard yesterday.
Ennis Circuit Court was told that there had been bad blood between the two men, after their wives had fallen out previously.
Father-of-four Michael McInerney (36), of Ballard Road, Miltown Mal- bay, admitted assaulting his brother- in-law Gerard Sexton, causing him harm, at Main Street, Leagard, Mil- town Malbay, on February 24, 2007.
Sergeant Joe Hehir told the court that Mr Sexton (43) went to a public house in Miltown Malbay to watch a rugby match between Ireland and England.
He met his brother-in-law, the ac- cused, in one of the pubs.
Words were exchanged between the two and there was a subsequent scuffle. Mr Sexton was forced to the ground, he said.
However, while a number of people
saw the incident, no-one present had remembered what had been said.
The court heard that an independ- ent witness who was standing close by on the street told gardai he saw “a big guy wearing a Munster rugby jer- sey” (the accused) having a hold of the injured party.
He said Mr Sexton had fallen back- wards on to the road and his head was banged off the road. “There was a bang as his head hit the ground,’ the witness told gardai.
Sgt Hehir said that at the scene, the accused accepted responsibility for what had happened.
He said Mr Sexton, a carpenter, now suffers from a severe imbalance and his work has been affected by the incident.
He said the relationship between the two men had deteriorated due to a dispute between their wives. He said he believed it emanated from a row at a chip shop.
Mr Sexton told the court that his balance was “completely gone” while the hearing in his right ear was
“nearly gone’, as a result of the in- cident.
Asked how he felt about the ac- cused, he said, “I wouldn’t look at the ground he’s on.”
Defence barrister Brian McInerney said it was tragic that the case had developed in such a manner.
He said his client had put together €7,000 in compensation for the in- jured party.
Judge Carroll Moran said while he appreciated the accused did not have any previous convictions, “he did in- flict very serious injuries on the in- jured party”.
He said the sum of money offered was inadequate and adjourned the case until January. He said the sum of money he had in mind was €15,000.
“I do not want to send him to prison,’ he said. However, he said he would have to impose a jail term if adequate compensation was not Or nCee