Gardaí had to disarm a man brandishing a fork during a series of events which led to a car fire in the middle of a road in Paulstown, a court heard.
John O’Connor, 2 Cul Na Saggart, Paulstown, Co Kilkenny, was before Kilkenny District Court last week, charged with assault causing harm, possession of knives and other articles, abusive or threatening behaviour and intoxication in a public place.
Mr O’Connor (57 ) pleaded guilty to all of the charges.
Michael Lanigan, solicitor for the defendant, told the court his client had been undergoing medical treatment since the incident, had stayed out of trouble and would be willing to undertake a community service order.
Mr Lanigan said the assault on June 18, 2007 when it was alleged he hit another man with his closed fist to the left side of his face, in an argument over the sale of a car, resulting in the victim receiving stitches over his left eye.
“He would accept he seems to have taken up completely incorrectly what the man called over to the house for,” Mr Lanigan said.
He said Mr O’Connor “drank a couple of cans of Smithwicks” earlier in the day, and an issue which had been the subject of a disagreement for a considerable time, was raised.
The court heard gardaí had to take a fork off Mr O’Connor during a set of events which saw a car set on fire in the middle of the road.
Mr Lanigan said his client seemed to have a considerable history of alcohol abuse and in a 57-year-old man with no previous convictions, the sudden encroachment of violence raised the question of whether brain damage had been done to bring about those changes.
“This behaviour could be characterized as being bizarre coming from a man not previously behaving like this,” he said.
He said that despite a number of letters to the consultant psychiatrist, he had not received a medical report on Mr O’Connor, who has an appointment for a CT scan in April.
He said Mr O’Connor had self-referred to a community addiction scheme, but they decided his case warranted in-house treatment which he underwent for 10 or 11 days.
He has since attended addiction services and Mr Lanigan said it might be best for all concerned to get the report before proceeding.
Judge William Harnett warned he was considering a custodial sentence in the case and said he wanted to ensure that Mr O’Connor was not somebody who had abused alcohol for years and bullied people and got away with it.
The case was adjourned until December 1 to allow time for the medical report on Mr O’Connor to be submitted.
