A man who assaulted a young woman in a hospital car park, because of feuding between their two families, and then knocked down a pedestrian as he rushed to hire a suit for his wedding, received an 11 month jail sentence at Galway District Court last Monday.
Martin Ward (22 ) with an address at 1 Corrach Bui, Rahoon, was brought before Judge Mary Fahy last Monday where he pleaded guilty to assaulting Debbie McDonagh causing her harm. He also pleaded guilty to a road traffic offences at Headford Road on April 6, 2009.
Inspector Michael Coppinger said that on October 22, 2009, at 12.15pm Miss McDonagh had been to see a friend at UHG and as she was leaving the hospital she encountered the defendant in the carpark. Words were exchanged and she was punched and knocked to the ground. The woman received a black eye, a cut under the eye, and a chipped tooth as a result. The court also heard that there has been a history between the defendant and the injured party’s families.
“He [Ward] was injured by a relative of the injured party,” Judge Fahy noted.
“He accepts he did assault her. He was coming out of maternity with his own wife and a confrontation ensued,” explained defence solicitor Thomas McHale.
Miss McDonagh then told Judge Fahy that she has been left with a permanant scar under her eye which may have been caused by the fact that Ward had been wearing a ring. Miss McDonagh then said: “It was actually a nun who saved me.”
Regarding the claim of a ring, Mr McHale retorted by saying his client had hit her with his right hand which is missing two fingers.
“There is a history between the families. It’s not acceptable, particularly in a hospital. It was totally inappropriate to hit out... The fact that there were hostilities, when he saw her he should have kept going,” said Judge Fahy.
Inspector Coppinger then explained that on April 6, 2009, a woman had been on her way to Dunnes Stores, Terryland, and had been crossing the road at the pedestrian lights. When the lights directed her to do so the woman crossed the road but was suddenly struck by the defendant’s car and thrown onto the bonnet and she received injuries. The inspector added that Ward had been on his way to hire a suit for his wedding and had thought that he could continue through the lights.
The court later heard that Ward has six previous convictions for road traffic offences committed on March 25 2009 which include driving without insurance.
“He drove on the 25th, he goes out on April 4th and knocks someone down and his excuse is that he was renting a suit for his wedding. He had no insurance, he shouldn’t have been driving,” said Judge Fahy in disbelief.
“He had a flashing orange light and stupidly didn’t keep a look out,” replied Mr McHale who added that his client got married in April and is on disability due to a severe injury to his right hand.
Judge Fahy imposed a seven month jail sentence for the assault. For driving without insurance a three month sentence, to run consecutively, was imposed, and a further one month consecutive sentence was imposed for the dangerous driving offence as well as a four year disqualification. Ward was also ordered to pay a fine of €200, payable forthwith, for having no driving licence. All other offences were taken into consideration. Leave to appeal was granted.
