Man given six months in jail for one punch

NEW YEAR’S ATTACK AN ‘UNPLEASANT END TO A PLEASANT EVENING’– JUDGE

A MAN who punched a fellow hotel guest was sentenced to six months in prison at Bray District Court last Thursday.

The court heard that Declan Howe (33), 10 Glenshane Crescent, Tallaght, Dublin 24, and a woman were staying at the Esplanade Hotel on the same night as Darragh McMahon and his wife, New Year’s Eve 2015.

The court heard that the two men met as Howe’s car window wouldn’t close and Mr McMahon helped him seal it with plastic bags, before inviting him to join his table for drinks.

Mr McMahon said that there was some tension between them in the bar and that his wife went to bed while he remained to finish whatever drinks he had. This was in the early hours of January 1, 2016.

‘He punched the right hand side of my face,’ said Mr McMahon. ‘ The other man held Deco back. Deco’s girlfriend and another lady were outside having a smoke.

‘ There was no provocation on my part. I ran straight out in shock, my mouth gushing blood. I went up to the room where my wife was. She came back down. We went to hospital and waited but weren’t seen. I went to Bray Garda Station in the morning,’ said Mr McMahon.

He said that he was very drunk on the night. Mr McMahon said that he rang gardaí the night of the incident, but they said that he should make a report once sober the following day.

Mr McMahon said that he went to the VHI clinic where he got a tetanus shot and stitches. He told the court that he got eight stitches, but according to the medical report it was three.

‘I was very drunk,’ said Mr McMahon regarding the night in question. ‘I was in a situation I could do nothing about, with people I didn’t know.’ He said that they were getting on so well earlier in the evening that they exchanged numbers. ‘I got a call from his phone the next day, but I didn’t answer it,’ he said.

‘It strikes me as strange that you would allow your wife to come back down. Would you not think she was at risk?’ asked barrister for the defence, Shannon Biondi.

‘ The aggression was only towards me. I didn’t think he would strike a woman,’ Mr McMahon said. Mr McMahon’s wife Lily said that they joined the other couple as there were no other younger people in the hotel. She said that another couple came in after 3 a.m., back from the nightclub, and joined them too. ‘We were all laughing and joking,’ she said.

Mrs McMahon said that there was some tension after she suggested ‘northsiders are always rowdy’, but then she said ‘sure I’m not even from here, I’m a culchie’.

She said that the atmosphere ‘got nasty’ and she decided to go to bed. She said she suggested her husband also go up, but he stayed to finish his drinks and five minutes later he was in the room with a mouth full of blood.

She said in cross-examination that she was in a ‘ little huff ’ when her husband would not go to bed. Howe said that he didn’t deny that he struck Mr McMahon but he said it was in self defence, and that he brushed him away rather than punched him.

In a statement to gardaí, he said that McMahon’s wife had gone to bed. ‘He was talking weird about opening up brothels. He said he had a child with a prostitute. He asked me to get him cocaine and did I know anyone who could get it, I said no. I was telling him to go to his room, to his missus. He was putting his head into my head. He was very drunk, which was partly my fault because I was buying him drinks. He lunged at me, I slapped out at him,’ said Howe.

‘He was a Jekyll and Hyde type character. One minute we were all OK, talking about sports, the next he lunged at me.’

Howe told the court that he drank up to six vodkas and a few shots that night. ‘I wasn’t too bad, I made it to breakfast the next morning.’

He said that things went wrong when he, Howe, wanted to go to bed.

‘He wanted to come to the room with us. He thought we were going for a party, which wasn’t true. I felt threatened by him. He was getting aggressive. He went for me, I was just defending myself.’

Ms Biondi said that of the two witnesses, Mr Howe clearly had less to drink on the night. She said that they were the only two witnesses.

Judge David Kennedy said that he found the injured party’s version events more truthful. ‘I don’t accept that Mr Howe was just pushing him away. I don’t know why he punched him, but he did.’

The court heard that Howe had no previous for this type of offence and was fully cooperative. ‘It was an unpleasant end to a pleasant evening,’ said Judge Kennedy. ‘ There are too many of these punching incidents.’