Teacher and exGAA player in hotel room row
STAG WEEK-END IN SLIGO ENDED UP WITH MAN RECEIVING SERIOUS INJURIES AFTER INCIDENT IN BEDROOM OF GREAT SOUTHERN HOTEL
AFORMER GAA player claimed he was seriously assaulted by a school teacher he told to get out of his room during a stag week-end in Sli go which both men were at.
The group had travelled from the Mullingar area but the week-end ended on a sour note when one of them ended up at Sligo University Hospital with facial injuries claiming he was assaulted by another of the party, a primary school teacher from Oldcastle, County Meath who was a former university boxing champion and a Point to Point jockey.
Adam Carroll (36), Sligo Circuit Court was told, took exception to the fact that teacher, Danny Foster (30) of Ballyboy, Walshestown, Mullingar was asleep in his room when he returned to the hotel around 3am after a night out in Sligo on April 21st 2016.
Mr Carroll told the court he pulled the duvet off Foster and told him to get “the f *** out of the room.” He said the accused then subjected him to a terrifying and traumatic assault.
The court heard that seven twin rooms were booked for a teacher’s stag week-end on Friday, April 20 th and 12 rooms on the Saturday night.
Mr Carroll said he and another man, James Davitt were rooming together but when he got back to the hotel late on Friday night, Foster was in one of the two beds in the room asleep.
Mr Carroll said Foster, who had also been on the same stag group’s visit to Sligo, wasn’t that well known to him.
“I felt he was in the wrong room and I felt uncomfortable with a strange man in my room and I pulled the duvet off him to try to get him out,” said Mr Carroll. He had also tapped Foster on the legs.
Foster had pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm to Mr Carroll in a trial which began last Tuesday before Judge Keenan Johnson and a jury of eight men and four women and which lasted four days.
Ms Dara Foynes BL prosecuted with Mr Hugh Sheridan State Solicitor while Mr Ken Fogarty SC appeared on behalf of the accused.
Mr Carroll, in evidence, recalled how about a group of twenty went on a stag week-end for Gerry Farrell and the group had booked into the Great Southern Hotel. He and Farrell had checked in around midday and were allocated room 431 which he signed for. There was only one key, an old fashioned type.
They brought their bags to the room before changing ans showering and then later going to play golf in Strandhill and going for something to eat before meeting up with other members of the stag group.
Mr Carroll said he had drank a number of bottles of beer that night in a couple of premises and left to go back to the hotel on his own around 2am. Mr Davitt remained on at the Garavogue. The witness said he looked for his key at reception and a night porter told him his room mate had already gone up to the room.
The witness said he thought this was strange as he had seen Mr Davitt just before he had left the Garavogue.
He went up to the room and he opened the door. He could see someone in one of the beds. He turned on the light. He saw it was Danny Foster who was a work colleague’s of Gerry Farrell. The witness said he hadn’t met Foster before though he knew his name.
“I asked him what he was doing here, that he was in the wrong room. Initially he was unresponsive and I repeated my question a number of times. He said he was just sleeping and that he just wanted to get some sleep.
“I tried to ring Gerry to see what was going on with the rooms but there was no answer,” he said.
Foster told him he had been booked into room 437 and the witness told him that he was in the wrong room and he asked him to please get out. He asked him a number of times to leave.
Mr Carroll said he got undressed and got into the other bed and hoped Foster would leave after a few minutes.
Ten minutes passed and Mr Carroll said he felt uncomfortable that there was a strange man in his room. He got up again and asked Foster to leave.
“I took the duvet off him and tapped him on the knees and told him to get up to f **k.”
The witness claimed that Foster got up and punched him in the face.
“I stumbled back and he came at me again,” he said. He said he put the accused in a body hold and he had a similar hold of him.
“Then, I got another punch to the head, a heavy blow and I fell to the ground. He got on top of me and he punched me about ten times roughly in the face. It was terrifying,” said Mr Carroll, adding that he didn’t know if had fallen unconscious or not.
He said that when he came to the accused was standing over him.
“He asked me if I was going to get up and I said no. He said that if you do get up you’re going to get more the same,” said Mr Carroll.
He said he felt traumatised and afraid and before leaving the room the accused said to him: “That’s what you get for f ***ing with Danny Foster.”
Mr Carroll said he got up and rang reception. and told the night porter that he had been assaulted and that he needed help. “My face was destroyed.” Afterwards he had headaches, couldn’t sleep and his self confidence was knocked back. He also had a fear of being in socials settings.
The night porter came up to the room and the Gardaí did as well. Mr Carroll said he had very severe pain to his jaw, eye and mouth.
Mr Carroll described as absolutely ridiculous claims made by the accused that he had got him a choke hold.
In reply to Mr Fogarty, Mr Carroll said he was about 6”1’ and weighed about 200 pounds. He played GAA with St Loman’s in the past.
Mr Fogarty asked who did they call ‘ that basher brother’ but witness said it was never a nickname that he had.
“You were a tough man on the field?” - Mr Fogarty.
“I played it fair and I played by the rules” - said the witness. He could not say how many bottles of beer he had during the course of the night. He said he was fine and had been able to walk from the Garavogue Bar back to the hotel and ask for his key.
He denied that he was in bad form going up to the room after learning there was someone there already. Asked why he put on the light, the witness replied that it was a natural thing to do.
Mr Fogarty said good manners suggested that if there was someone asleep one would let the light in from the hall and not turn on the light.
It was put to the witness that the night porter would say he had gone up with him and had opened the room door with the master key.
“He could be mistaken,” said Mr Carroll. He admitted that he had been a little bit annoyed because “there was a trespasser in my room.” He said he threw the duvet on to the ground after pulling it off Foster but he did not break a mirror in doing so after also striking cutlery with it.
“I don’t recall anything about a mirror being broken,” he said.
He denied that he put his arm around Mr Foster’s neck and dragged the top half of him out of the bed. He did tell the accused to “get the f *** out of the bed after pulling the duvet off him.”
Mr Fogarty suggested that the accused had launched two to three good punches over his head into the witness’s face as he was held in choke hold. Mr Carroll denied this and said Foster was a trained boxer and knew this at the time.
“This entire episode occurred because of your belligerent behaviour?” - Mr Fogarty. “Absolutely not” - Mr Carroll.
It was put to witness that he had acted the bully.
“I remember being beaten to a pulp. That’s what I remember,” said Mr Carroll.
Sergeant Michael Kelly, in evidence, said he got a call to go to hotel at 3.20am and met and night porter in the foyer. Witness, along with Garda Louise Keogh and the porter went to the room and met with Mr Carroll who had extensive facial injuries and said he had been assaulted by Foster.
Sgt Kelly returned to the foyer and met the accused who told him he had fallen asleep in the wrong room and that Mr Carroll tried to throw him out and that he had reacted to this and hit him a few times in the face.
Foster, who was extremely sorry over what he had done, said he couldn’t believe what had happened. Foster signed the notebook of the Sergeant. This notebook was subsequently mislaid but a photocopy of the relevant page singed by Foster had been taken and were produced in court.
In reply to Mr Fogarty, Sgt Kelly agreed he witnessed an Aidan Canning push Foster in the foyer. The accused fell to the ground and he subsequently made a complaint of assault in regard to this. CCTV footage from outside the hotel or from cameras in the reception area were not gathered by the Gardaí said Sgt Kelly. He said he had viewed the matter as being very simple. He had met a man who had been violently assaulted, had been given the name of the alleged assailant, had gone down stairs where he met him and he confessed to what he did.
Garda Louise Keogh told the trial she met Foster on April 20 th 2016 at Sligo Garda Station and he read from a prepared statement. He stated he had been out on Sligo with the other members of the stag group but left for the hotel around 1am as he had a lot of school work to do the next day and he was also driving.
He recalled getting a key for the room and stated he was awakened around 2am by Mr Carroll who asked him “what the f *** he was doing there.”
Foster stated that he told Mr Carroll that he was trying to sleep but he was aggressive and threatening and said he would kill him if he didn’t get out.
The accused said he told Mr Carroll that he just wanted to sleep and that he didn’t want any hassle. Mr Carroll was marching around the room in an aggressive manner.
Foster said he felt uneasy at the situation and contemplated leaving. Mr Carroll got into his bed but he suddenly jumped out of it and grabbed him by the neck and arm and attempted to get him out of the bed.
The accused stated that he got loose but Mr Carroll rushed at him again and caught him in a headlock. He started to choke and could hardly breathe. He hit Mr Carroll two to three times over his shoulder to his face.
Foster stated he feared for his life and that Mr Carroll was out of control. “Eventually, he let go of his grip after hitting him a couple more times,” said the accused.
Foster said he had been a disciplined boxer but he had no alternative but to defend himself. Mr Carroll would have choked him and he was much bigger and stronger than he was.
Garda Tony Lavin said he arrested Aidan Canning under the Public Order Act after he witnessed him pushing the accused in the foyer. It was a minor push and Canning subsequently paid a fixed penalty notice in respect of the offence. A medical report from Consultant in Emergency Medicine, Michael Sweeney of Sligo University Hospital was read to the court by Ms Foynes.
Dr Sweeney said Mr Carroll had extensive bruising to the left side of his face, his left eye was closed and swollen and he was given pain killers. There were two small cuts to the left hand side of his face which were treated with glue. A facial x-ray showed no obvious fractures.