Assault incident won’t reoccur

A KENMARE man who assaulted his mother’s partner has received a fourmonth suspended sentence for the incident.

John Clair (38) with an address at 23 Sunnyhill Grove, assaulted 66-year-old James Crulley, his mother’s then-partner, by punching him during a row in the house all three shared.

Defence solicitor Conor Murphy said that his client, though he contested the charge, did in effect admit to punching Mr

Crulley, but in the context of a particular set of circumstances involving his mother.

He said he was apologetic about what happened and that there was an element of a plea to the case but that it went to hearing to explain the circumstances.

A previous sitting heard that Mr Clair had assaulted Mr Crulley because he pushed his mother to the floor and tried to stop her entering the house.

However, Judge Waters said he did not hold with the defence argument.

At last Friday’s Kenmare District Court sitting, Mr Murphy said that his client was not likely to re-offend as the relationship between Mr Clair’s mother and Mr Crulley was now over, and the three of them no longer live together; therefore, it would not happen again.

The court heard that Mr Clair had previous convictions for battery in the UK, for an incident that occurred at a house party, but that he had no convictions in Ireland.

The UK convictions were at the lower end of the scale, the court heard, and were only dealt with by way of a fine.

Mr Murphy said that Mr Clair admitted punching Mr Crulley but that he argued the case in the context of what happened on the night between his partner and mother.

Judge Waters said he was giving Mr Clair credit for admitting to hitting Mr Crulley, but he also had to take into account that Mr Clair has previous convictions in the UK when giving him a sentence.

Judge David Waters convicted Mr Clair and gave him a four-month suspended sentence for the incident which occurred in November 2018 in Kenmare.

Defence solicitor Conor Murphy