Man guilty of assaulting his former friend

DEFENDANT DISPUTED SOME FACTS PUT FORWARD

A DISPUTE between two former friends has resulted in one of them appearing before Gorey District Court charged with assault. Edward Maguire (25) of 23 Allenwood Drive, Gorey, was charged with assaulting David Molloy at Willow Park, Gorey, on November 3 of 2016.

Solicitor Garrett Fitzpatrick said that his client wished to plead guilty to the charge, but that he disputed the outline of the facts that had been put forward.

Mr Molloy gave evidence that on the day in question, he had been in court and was walking home with his mother and his niece at around 1 p.m. He said he was grabbed by the neck from behind and dragged to the ground, at which point he received kicks to his ribs.

‘I didn’t like the way he did it in front of my niece,’ Mr Molloy said. ‘He blamed me for breaking up his house or something.’

Mr Fitzpatrick questioned Mr Molloy about his relationship with his client and whether the incident was completely unprovoked. He read out a total of three texts sent by Mr Molloy to Edward Maguire, the first of which encouraged the defendant to ‘walk half way. I’ll fight’. Molloy conceded that he had sent this message, however, he denied any recollection of sending a message which said: ‘Your brother will get it. Two of them, they know where he lives. (...) Me and Rob broke your windows. You won’t be able to live there again’.

‘I put it to you,’ Mr Fitzpatrick said, ‘that Edward Maguire suffered intimidation and vitriol after disassociating himself with you and your group.’

‘That’s not my problem,’ Mr Molloy responded. Mr Maguire then claimed that on the morning of the incident, Mr Molloy had stood outside his kitchen window gesturing at him to come out and fight. He claimed that he hadn’t kicked the injured party in the ribs, but rather punched him while he was on the ground.

‘The suggestion that the assault came from nowhere is simply not the case,’ said Mr Fitzpatrick. ‘My client fully accepts that he crossed the line, but there was an element of provocation and while this is no excuse, it does provide some mitigation.’

‘The text messages were threatening,’ Judge Haughton said, upon hearing all the evidence. ‘But that doesn’t excuse the fact that he left the house where he was safe and engaged in an assault.

‘He deserves credit for pleading guilty, but the fact is he shouldn’t have left the house. The proper thing to do was ring the gardaí.’

Judge Haughton then convicted Maguire of the assault and handed him a €400 fine.