Duo are found guilty by jury of assault

TWO men have been found guilty of the assault of a father and his 20-yearold son.

Jack Gorevan (25) of Langan Place, Cranmore – represented by Delia Flynn SC, assisted by Gerry McGovern and Eoin McGovern BL and Jack Gethins (22) of Pearse Road, Sligo – represented by Colm Smyth SC, assisted by Tom MacSharry and Eugene Deering BL, received the verdict following a trial at Sligo Circuit Criminal Court.

Both faced a charge of assault causing harm to Ethan McMurrow (20) and for public disorder. Gethins was also charged with common assault upon McMurrow’s father, Darren (40).

Both Darren and Ethan McMurrow were – on September 3, 2021 – on their way to get the Covid vaccine where they were allegedly assaulted by the defendants on Burton Street, Sligo.

The trial which was presided over by Judge Kenneth Connolly, began more than a week ago with both injured parties already having testified against Gorevan and Gethins, entered its final stages last Tuesday (April 16).

The last witness for the State, Garda Mark Irwin, confirmed to the Court that he had arrested Gethins.

He also told the Court that he had downloaded CCTV taken from a property on Burton Street onto a USB memory stick.

However, Garda Irwin admitted to the Court that during a refurbishment of Sligo Garda Station, the stick containing the footage was “misplaced” and “couldn’t be located” despite “multiple efforts” made to locate it.

The State informed the Court that its case was concluded with both Defence barristers passing the opportunity to present a case to the Court themselves.

In his closing, State Prosecutor Leo Mulrooney – who was assisted during the trial by State solicitor Elisa McHugh – reminded the jury of what the witnesses had told the Court earlier in the case.

He said that witness Shane McGethin had seen “four to eight people using violence”, that witness Patricia Vallace saw “six to nine people ‘rough-housing’,” and that witness Marlene Horan saw “four to five lads running after another lad and pulled him down and kicked him”.

Mr Mulrooney continued by stating that Darren McMurrow gave evidence stating that Gethins had “hit me with one of my fists” with his daughter adding that Gethins had “kicked her dad”. Ethan McMurrow had stated that Corevan had “kicked me in the face and stamped on my head”.

Both injured parties said they could identify both defendants as their attackers with Ethan adding that he had known both from their time at school.

Mr Mulrooney continued by adding that although the assailants of the McMurrows had both been wearing (Covid) masks, the injured parties did more than catch a “fleeting glance” as “words were exchanged followed by a prolonged and sustained attack” and that “both complainants were quite sure of who their attackers were”.

Defence barrister Flynn told the

Court that the “absence of evidence – such as the missing CCTV footage – was a major failure of the Prosecution in this case”.

Her colleague, defence barrister Smyth added that the Prosecution had “put forward a case based on speculation” and that the jury “couldn’t convict anyone based on this” as it would be “a gross miscarriage of justice”.

Following the guilty verdicts, sentencing was adjourned to a later date.