Wedding courage of PGA golfer assault by Healy-Raes
THIS is Kieran James, the victim of an assault involving two of Michael Healy-Rae’s sons in Kenmare, Co. Kerry, pictured on his wedding day.
Mr James, who was punched in the face several times during the incident, said in a victim impact statement this week that he considered cancelling his wedding after what happened.
Mr James is a professional golfer who lives in London. He turned pro in 2006. He was previously attached to North Circular Golf, Waltham Abbey. He said many aspects of his life had changed ‘to the detriment’ after the incident in December 2017.
A Kerry court heard councillor Jackie Healy-Rae, 24, his brother Kevin, 22, and friend Malachy Scannell, 34, left Kieran James ‘almost unrecognisable’ in the battering.
The incident arose when Mr James and his then-fiancé Lauren objected to Kevin Healy-Rae jumping a chip van queue.
‘I no longer want to visit the town I loved’
Mr James’s aunt and his mother are keen golfers from Kilgarvan. His mother’s extended family own a farm where he spent childhood summers. It was during one such visit, on a night out with cousins, that he became embroiled in an altercation with the Healy-Rae brothers and another man.
In a victim impact statement, Mr James said following the assault he had two operations, continues to suffer from headaches and said both he and his wife Lauren have ‘reoccurring nightmares’.
‘From a very young age, every year I looked forward to visiting Kenmare with my family,’ he said. ‘The events that night have changed that and now I no longer want to visit the town I loved. My wife and I had planned to get married in Kenmare before that assault happened. The attack that night totally changed our feelings for the town and consequently we even considered cancelling our wedding arrangements.
‘Although we finally got married in Kenmare as planned, the day was marred by memories of that night.’
Mr James married Lauren Callaghan, in August 2018, eight months after the assault, at Dawros Church in Kenmare, followed by a reception at Dromquinna Manor. The second day festivities were held at Kenmare Golf Club.
Judge David Waters noted the elder sibling and Scannell had acted as ‘enforcers’ during the incident.But, despite sentencing all three men to between six and eight months, Judge Waters suspended all terms because none of the defendants had previous convictions.
The men had been convicted last month at Tralee District Court of assault causing harm following three days of trial. All denied the charges.
Their trial heard the violence began when Mr James, 30, who was visiting from England with Lauren, objected to Kevin Healy-Rae jumping a queue at a chip van after closing time.
Healy-Rae then turned to the couple and declared: ‘This is my town, this is my chip van.’ He left before returning with his brother Jackie and Scannell, who grabbed his victim in a headlock until onlookers pleaded that Mr James could not breathe.
The scuffle broke up and the couple walked off. Moments later the Healy-Raes and Scannell ‘charged’ up Main Street in pursuit of Mr James, who then received multiple blows.
The victim was left with a broken nose, a chipped tooth and torn shoulder ligament and had to have a number of nose operations.
Mr James said he was self-employed and suffered a ‘significant financial loss’ as a consequence of the injuries as he had to take time off work to recover and for the trial and also cover his medical costs.