Garda convicted of assault wins appeal
A GARDA who was convicted of assaulting two women during a row over a lift home from a night out has won his appeal against the conviction.
Brian Hanrahan, 34, with an address at Ballintotty, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, was found guilty last year of assaulting Emer Kelly and Aisling King, causing them harm, early on March 6, 2016.
He received suspended sentences of six months and three months in the district court.
Mr Hanrahan, who survived being shot near an ATM by an armed robber while on holiday in New Orleans in 2015, appealed the verdicts and his appeal was allowed at Nenagh Circuit Court yesterday. Emer Kelly told the court on Thursday that Brian Hanrahan kicked her in the face and punched her several times after she asked him for €15, which they had agreed he would pay for a lift home, while Aisling King said that Mr Hanrahan hit her twice on the face when she tried to stop him assaulting Ms Kelly.
Brian Hanrahan told the appeal hearing that he was trying to stop Emer Kelly from hitting and kicking him when he hit her.
‘I’m sorry about everything that happened, but more so about that, than anything. I didn’t want to hit her, but the situation I was in, I felt I had to.’ He said the allegation that he hit Ms Kelly six to eight times was ‘ridiculous’ and that as soon as he hit her once, she stopped.
The incident happened on Sunday, March 6 of 2016, after he asked Ms King, Ms Kelly and another of their friends to give him a lift from Nenagh to his home about 4km away after he couldn’t get a taxi from the Maximus nightclub. They didn’t know each other beforehand.
In the car, he said the crowd in Maximus was ‘a bit rough’ and the girls took offence. Eventually, Emer Kelly started demanding he pay €50 to Aisling King, the driver. When the car stopped and he got out, the car started edging behind him and he thought it was going to touch his leg. He said to them: ‘Would ye just f... off’ and Emer Kelly then jumped out and shouted: ‘you give her the f***ing money’ and grabbed his wrist, and started kicking him on the shin and hitting him in the face, Mr Hanrahan told the court.
Judge Thomas Teehan said that if Ms Kelly had sustained six to eight blows to the face from Mr Hanrahan, who is 6ft 3ins compared to her 5ft 3ins, more damage would be expected. The injury she did receive, including a tooth left hanging, swollen upper and lower lips and a cut to one lip, was ‘consistent with one blow’.
He allowed the appeal against both convictions.