REF’S ATTACKER WAS ON BAIL FOR SERIOUS ASSAULT
It was an attack that shocked the nation... and now the Mail can reveal details about the main suspects
ONE of the suspects believed to have savagely beaten a soccer referee is out on bail for assault and threats to kill, the Irish Daily Mail can reveal. In an attack that shocked the nation, Daniel Sweeney was left with serious facial injuries, including a broken jaw, after the match in Horseleap on the Offaly-Westmeath border last Sunday.
Four men who are suspected of carrying out the brutal assault are all members of a well-known settled Traveller family in the town. Some members of the family are well-known to gardaí for involvement in criminality and have numerous convictions.
One of the four suspects was charged with assault causing harm to another man in Mullingar earlier this year as well as threatening to kill a number of other people as part of the same incident.
This individual is out on bail over this
offence and is due to appear in court again in December.
One of the other four identified suspects, closely related to the man on bail, has criminal convictions for involvement in a long-running feud with another Traveller family.
This individual also has convictions for criminal damage and possession of a baseball bat to be used as part of a dispute.
Gardaí quickly identified the group of men who attacked Mr Sweeney and have also interviewed the referee from his hospital bedside.
Officers have established the whereabouts of the four suspects and are said to be ‘biding their time’ before making arrests as they ‘continue to gather all the necessary evidence and witness statements’, according to a senior source.
The source added: ‘We know who these men are and where they are. They are not going anywhere.’
Mr Sweeney, who is originally from Dungloe, Co. Donegal, but now lives in Mullingar, had refereed a match between and Mullingar Town and Horseleap United when the attack occurred.
He was attacked in a pub car park beside the pitch. The brutal, unprovoked beating left him with two fractures to his jaw, one
‘It makes you question, should I be refereeing’
fracture to his eye socket and multiple bruises and cuts, some of which required stitches.
In an interview from his hospital bed this week, Mr Sweeney forgave those who had attacked him but also said he wasn’t sure if he would referee again.
‘I’m feeling sore, to be honest. I’m feeling sore where I have my injuries. But, look, I’m getting on with it, he said.
‘It certainly makes you question should I be refereeing when you feel you’re not properly protected.
‘So it makes you question whether refereeing is for you.’
He said he had been raised in a religious household and bore no grudge against those who attacked him.
‘My main message is to say to the individuals involved, I bear no animosity whatsoever for what happened. Actually, I forgive you for what happened,’ he said.
However, he said he hoped the attack would lead to greater protection of referees.
‘What would I like to see out of this, at the end of the day? I would like to see the day that a referee can go on to a football field, feel safe and be safe.’
The father of two said he had been astonished by the sheer amount of goodwill expressed towards him. ‘I just want to say thank you for all the kind messages of support. It’s just been absolutely outstanding and overwhelming,’ he said.
‘I just want to say thank you to the hospitals that have given me great care and attention.’
A Dublin soccer club this week offered to donate their gate receipts from a game last night to Mr Sweeney but the referee asked club officials to give the proceeds to Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, instead.
St Mochta’s FC in west Dublin made the offer ahead of its game against Crumlin United.
‘We as a club decided to donate our gate receipts from the game to Daniel Sweeney and his family. We hoped this gesture would assist Daniel with his medical costs,’ the club said.
‘Daniel has acknowledged our gesture and very generously asked that the gate receipts go to Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin.
‘We all love football, our game is nothing without referees and officials. We wish Daniel a full and speedy recovery.’
Junior Sports Minister Brendan Griffin met with John Delaney, CEO of the Football Association of Ireland, earlier this week to discuss the attack.
Mr Griffin said he was ‘appalled’ when he was ‘alerted to this disgraceful incident over the weekend’.
He added: ‘In all sports, referees are critical to our fixtures taking place, and no person who goes out to officiate a game should find themselves in a position of having to defend themselves against a sickening attack of this nature.’
Mr Griffin said he had played soccer for nearly 15 years in the Kerry District League and ‘never once saw as much as a hand being laid on a referee’.
FAI chief Mr Delaney met with Paul O’Brien, president of the Irish Soccer Referees Society, on Thursday night to discuss the assault on Mr Sweeney.