Fireman assaulted in front of his children

VICIOUSLY assaulting a local fireman outside of his home in front of his young children resulted in a court appearance for Mark McGrath (31) of Scarawalsh, Enniscorthy.

McGrath was charged with assault causing harm to Jim Foley at 32 The Orchard, Enniscorthy, on December 27 of 2012. The court heard that on the day in question, McGrath dragged Mr Foley out of his house and attacked him ‘punching and kicking’ him.

Mr Foley received injuries to his face and head which included damage to his eye socket and a cyst on his eye which required him to attend St James’ Hospital in Dublin.

Solicitor Tim Cummings said that his client made full admissions and was pleading guilty, but pointed out that there had been an incident with his 9 year-old son earlier that day, whereby ‘either the defendant or his brother in law’ said that ‘they would throw him and his bike over the ditch if he came around by the house again’.

This was something which Mr Foley didn’t shy away from as he took the stand. He said that on the day in question, his family had gotten a little pup and the defendant’s young son had run over it on his bicycle, resulting in it dying.

‘The brother in law went a bit over the top alright,’ Mr Foley said. ‘He told him something like he’d throw him and the bike over the way if he came back around again.’

Mr Foley then went on to say that at around 9.30 p.m. that night, the doorbell rang. When he answer, he said he was dragged outside and punched ‘a couple of times’ and he couldn’t remember much after that.

He said that what was worse than the physical injuries he suffered was the fact that his children, aged 6 and 14, had witnessed the attack and he was left ‘feeling useless’ and ‘like I couldn’t protect my family’. Mr Foley said that he was left feeling nervous and jumpy whenever anyone called to the door. ‘I didn’t know what he looked like even,’ he said. ‘I could’ve passed him in the street. I didn’t know if he’d come back.’

Mr Cummings said that his client had ‘seen red’ when it came to his son and he ‘went over the top’. He said that he apologises unreserv- edly for his actions and that he was working on addressing his anger issues. He pointed out that McGrath had not come to garda attention for anything like this before or since.

‘Five years have passed and he hasn’t put anything away in terms of compensation,’ Judge Cheatle remarked. Mr Cummings said that his client had four children and was a man of limited means.

At this point, Mr Foley indicated that he did not wish to receive any compensation.

‘That’s very noble of you,’ Judge Haughton said to Mr Foley. ‘I must say that in all of this you’ve come across as a very fine man and a man of impeccable character.’

‘It does seem like this incident was something out of character and that there was a loss of control on the defendant’s part,’ said Judge Cheatle. ‘But that does not diminish what happened to Mr Foley.’

He then asked if McGrath would be willing to complete community service. He said that he would and the Judge made an order for him to complete 200 hours in lieu of six months in prison.