Guest grabbed phone from hotel manager in bedroom

A 47-year-old man found guilty of assaulting a hotel manager has been given an opportunity to avoid a conviction.

Seán Farrell, 313 Ashbrook Avenue, Tom Bellew Avenue, had denied the allegation which arose out of an incident in a bedroom at the Carnbeg Hotel, Armagh Road nearly two years ago.

The defendant, was also accused of being intoxicated in a public place and engaging in threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour in public. He also denied those charges.

Both were dismissed after the judge agreed with a defence solicitor that a hotel bedroom was not a public place.

Evidence was given that Farrell grabbed a mobile phone from the hotel manager after complaints were made about noise coming from the room he was sharing with a friend. The victim suffered scrapes on the face.

Johnny Burke, operations manager, said that at around midnight on 19/20 November, 2017, he went to room 306, and after knocking on the door, saw two men lying in the room.

He warned them the noise would have to stop or they would be asked to leave.

On a second occasion, Mr Burke said it was a case of ‘ two strikes and you’re gone’.

He took a colleague’s mobile phone to contact gardaí. There was no coverage.

He told night manager Joe Quigley to go downstairs to phone the guards, and he walked towards the bedroom window to try to get coverage, pretending he was on the phone.

The defendant then put an arm around his neck and grabbed the phone from his hand. The phone landed on the floor.

Mr Burke retrieved room.

Cross-examined by solicitor Conor MacGuill, the witness said there was a Bacardi bottle and Coors Light bottles scattered around the room.

He said noisy guests normally get a warning and then are asked to leave. Rooms on either side had complained.

Mr MacGuill put it to Mr Burke that there was no intention to assault him. The issue was a misunderstanding.

‘He jumped off the bed and put his arm around my neck,’ the witness replied.

Joe Quigley testified that he started at 11pm. He noticed two regular customers in the bar – Seán Farrell and his friend.

They dropped two glasses on the floor, breaking them.

Mr Quigley said he had seen the two men in the hotel twice before. On each of those two occasions he had to ask them to be quiet, and they did settle down.

This time he asked them to go up to their room.

They were gone up 45 minutes when he received complaints that other guests couldn’t sleep. it and left the

Mr Quigley knocked on the bedroom door and told the occupants people were trying to sleep.

They said they would be quiet but five minutes later there was another call down to reception.

‘I rapped on the door. The two men were having an argument. I said ‘please, lads, you have to be quiet or will have to leave,’’ Mr Quigley continued.

After there was a third call of complaint he went to get Mr Burke from his room. It was ‘out of control’ at that stage.

They knocked on the door and it was opened. Mr Burke asked him to go down to reception to call the guards.

Gda Shauna Kerr gave evidence that at 2am on 20 November,2017, she responded to a report of an assault at the hotel.

She saw that Johnny Burke had scratches to his face, three marks on the right cheek.

The officer said Seán Farrell admitted he was drunk in a statement he gave.

It was put to her by Mr MacGuill that the defendant presented as being deaf as he spoke quite loudly.

Seán Farrell took to the witness box to say he went to the hotel on 19 November, 2017, with his friend Paul from Armagh. They had stayed there twice before.

He said he never saw a man trying to ring on the phone.

‘I never saw a phone. He never came into the room.

‘ The gardaí arrived and I was put out. My friend followed me out.’

The court heard Mr Farrell suffered fluid on the brain as a result of an accident in Belfast three years ago.

Mr MacGuill submitted the assault was all about intention, and it was not his client’s intention to cause any upset.

The accused presented with a particular neurological condition.

Garda Inspector Liam Archbold responded a person is guilty of assault whether intentionally or recklessly doing so.

Judge McKiernan said she fully accepted Mr Burke’s evidence. She found him very fair.

She did accept there was no intention whatsoever by Seán Farrell, but believed there was a certain element of recklessness.

Finding against Seán Farrell, she remarked: ‘It’s an unfortunate case. I’m open to dealing with him in a certain way, with some element of compensation to Mr Burke.’

The court heard the defendant had no previous convictions, and was on disability benefit.

Mr MacGuill said it would take him two-to-three weeks to raise €500.

The judge decided to adjourn the case to 6 November for €750 to be given to Mr Burke as a token.