A bar manager was convicted and fined €750 and sentenced to a three month prison sentence suspended for a year at Claremorris District Court this week. Patrick Coleman, Oughhan, Tubbercurry, Sligo, pleaded not guilty to assaulting Tom Reidy on November 15 2008, however Judge Mary Devins found that there was no doubt in her mind following the evidence that Coleman did assault Mr Reidy.
Reidy told the court that he went to Val’s takeaway in Claremorris on the night in question and he saw Coleman and a friend sitting inside the takeaway. He went on to say that two friends of his called to him from the door and he turned around to them and saw Coleman becoming abusive towards them. He said he told his friends to ignore it and they walked out of the takeaway once he got his food. He continued, saying that about 100 yards down the street he heard a shout, he turned around and felt a belt to the head and ended up on the ground. When he got up he saw Coleman and his friend running away. He told the court that he went to the gardaí and made a complaint and he was brought to Mayo General Hospital for treatment. Under cross examination from Mary O’Brien, solicitor for Coleman, Mr Reidy denied that he started the row by getting in Coleman’s face about a previous incident in that had taken place in a bar where Reidy made an assault charge that he later withdrew and which saw him barred from a pub.
Garda John Doherty told the court he met Tom Reidy at 3.20am that evening and he had a bad cut on his face and a swollen jaw and told him that he had been assaulted by Coleman. Garda Doherty went on to say that at 5am he found Coleman outside Pajo’s Bar and went to speak to him about the incident and Coleman told him: “I threw the first punch, off the record.” He went on to tell the court that over the next few days he got statements from all those involved in the incident and photographed Mr Reidy’s injuries.
In his evidence, Coleman told the court that he had gone to the takeaway with a friend he had a few drinks with earlier that night, and that Mr Reidy annoyed him about a previous incident where he had barred Reidy from a pub after he had been involved in a incident in the bar and claimed he was assaulted. Coleman told the court that he left without his friend who was behind him and a scuffle broke out between him and Reidy, but he did not hit him first.
Judge Mary Devins convicted and fined Coleman and sentenced him to three months in prison, suspended for 12 months, and fixed recognisance for appeal.
