Man who bit off part of his brother’s ear avoids prison
A MEDICAL professional who bit off part of his brother’s ear in a row ‘around land, monies and a shed’ has been spared prison.
At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Francis Comerford imposed a suspended 17-month term on Conor O’Halloran, 42, for the ‘unprovoked’ and ‘very serious’ assault causing harm to Daniel O’Halloran, 37, that led to the attacker’s younger brother losing the top part of his left ear.
Judge Comerford also directed that the solicitor for Conor O’Halloran offer €10,000 compensation to Daniel O’Halloran within three weeks. However, counsel for the State Lorcan Connolly said Daniel O’Halloran is not interested in the €10,000.
Judge Comerford also ordered, as part of the suspended term’s conditions, that Conor O’Halloran continue to engage in counselling.
In a victim-impact statement, Daniel O’Halloran, a farmer, told the court that his ‘ear is disfigured and I will have to live with it as a constant reminder for the rest of my life of what my brother did’.
Conor O’Halloran, of Rosebank, Old Bawn, Tallaght, Dublin 24 – a radiographer at a Dublin hospital – pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Daniel O’Halloran at Liscullane, Tulla, Co. Clare, on May 5, 2021. Conor O’Halloran’s counsel, Patrick Whyms, said he was never in court before this and has been ‘a model citizen’ up to this one act.
Garda Brian Quinn told the court that when he arrived at the scene in May 2021, he entered the farmhouse and saw Daniel O’Halloran ‘shirtless and the top part of left ear removed’, with ‘blood down his face and down his body’.
Garda Quinn said that colleagues were with Conor O’Halloran in the farmyard, and that he was arrested at the scene and replied: ‘Why am I being arrested and not him?’.
In a statement to gardaí at the scene, Daniel O’Halloran described his brother ‘as being in a rage’. He told Garda Quinn that Conor was roaring: ‘Come out – we will have it’, before he took off his top and charged at his brother.
Daniel said he was knocked to the ground, and while there, Conor bit off the top of his left ear.
Daniel O’Halloran was brought by ambulance to the emergency department (ED) at University Hospital Limerick (UHL).
Mr Connolly said that a medical report confirmed that ‘trauma to the left ear was consistent with a bite and tissue loss was noted’.
Daniel O’Halloran was treated and discharged the same day at the ED. Garda Quinn said there were ‘issues around land, monies and a shed’ between the brothers and that ‘matters came to a head that day’. Mr Connolly said Conor also owned farmland in Tulla, and that these lands were farmed by his brother. In his victim impact statement, Daniel O’Halloran said: ‘My family is broken and I have not even been told sorry once.’
‘A reminder for life of what he did’