Following the appearance of a 26-year-old Castlebar man at Castlebar District Court this week for a public order charge and assaulting two others, Judge Mary Devins urged that the two men should sort out the matter in an expeditious manner so that tensions would not escalate.
Charlie McDonagh, with a listed address at 37 Meadow Park, Castlebar pleaded guilty to section two assault on John McDonagh last December; however, the defendant contested assaulting John’s wife Ina on the same date.
Ina, who was a witness in the case, told the court that on December 4 last year, after herself and her husband arrived back from the garda station (John had been making a statement about the defendant relating to an incident which happened the night before ), the defendant was seen approaching their house. Ina explained that John, who was outside, told McDonagh to go away before John went inside into his house. The defendant tried to gain entry through the door; however, Ina said, she had her hand against the handle so it could not be opened. Ina claimed that McDonagh got hold of her fingers and was “squeezing them” in order to make her let go of the handle so he could get into the house. Ina said that she told the defendant to go away, but McDonagh gained entry. John asked the defendant to leave and told him that the matter was being dealt with by the gardaí. According to Ina, John was then struck in the mouth by the defendant and was knocked to the floor. McDonagh then left the house and the gardaí were called.
John told the court that the night before the assault he and the defendant were attending a card drive in the Welcome Inn where McDonagh had called John a “bit of a bollox” in front of others, which John said was “embarrassing”. Later that night the defendant also grabbed John’s hat from his head, and when John went to retrieve it was chased by McDonagh around Castlebar. As John felt intimidated and insulted by the abuse he was getting from the defendant he phoned the gardaí. John claimed that McDonagh said to him: “Ill put you six feet under if you make any statements.”
McDonagh told the court that the morning after the incident in the Welcome Inn he went to John’s house only to apologise. The defendant said that “there is one of us lying here and it is not me” as he claimed that he did not assault Ina and that the door was eventually opened to him after John told Ina to let him in. McDonagh said that “I did hit him”, after John told him that he had charge sheets against him,and “I have you where I want you- put you in jail” but McDonagh was “more than sorry for what had happened”.
Solicitor for McDonagh, Aidan Crowley, told Judge Mary Devins that there was another matter pending between the two of them in the November court.
Judge Devins said that the bad tensions between the two could “escalate” into something and Inspector Michael Murray also agreed that these tensions needed to be “brought to a halt”.
The judge adjourned the case until November 19 by which time she hoped that the situation would be resolved among the parties concerned, otherwise McDonagh would face a jail sentence “which could inflame the situation.”
McDonagh also undertook to stay away from John and Ina and the judge ordered that if there was any flare-up between the two there was liberty to re-enter.
