COURTS: Guilty verdict in Offaly horse fair assault trial
Man had denied early morning attack which left victim with fractured ribs
A MAN has been found guilty of an assault the night before the Banagher Horse Fair where the victim sustained fractured ribs.
A jury took just over an hour to reach a verdict after James Hogan Junior (34), 1 Bolster Terrace, Mallow, Co Cork, had pleaded not guilty to assaulting John Connors, causing him harm.
The jury viewed CCTV footage which showed Mr Connors, a resident of Naas, being punched several times on the street shortly before 2am on September 17, 2023.
The victim was then knocked to the ground and kicked in the side and the head.
An ambulance had to be called and he was brought to Tullamore Hospital where scans revealed fractured ribs and doctors decided he needed a chest drain. Mr Connors remained in hospital for seven days.
In closing speeches by prosecution and defence on day two of the trial on Wednesday, April 22 at Tullamore Circuit Court the jury heard the key issue before them was identification and recognition of the accused man.
They had been told a guard based in Mallow, Garda Jack O'Sullivan, recognised Mr Hogan when he viewed CCTV footage given to him by Garda Conor Fanning, the Banagher guard who investigated the assault.
The footage had been recorded on a security camera outside the house of Banagher resident Jared Hynes.
There was no appearance at the trial by the victim despite a warrant being issued by the court.
Garda O'Sullivan told the jury he knew Mr Hogan from his work in Mallow and from calling to the home of the accused to speak to him about horses which sometimes were loose near the river Blackwater in the Co Cork town.
When the CCTV footage was played in court Garda O'Sullivan asked for it to be paused on several occasions to indicate exactly when he could recognise the accused man.
Defence counsel David Nugent, BL, said the only evidence of recognition was from Garda O'Sullivan and there was no corroborating evidence nor direct evidence of identification at the scene when the assault was taking place.
The CCTV recorded a group of males standing near a van on the street and they were speaking to each other in the presence of a pony.
Two other horses were led across the street to the group by a young man, described in court as a son of the victim, and voices could be heard on the recording saying “handicaps” before Mr Connors was assaulted.
After the verdict of guilty was returned in the Tullamore Circuit Court courtroom one young man standing near the family of the accused said “handicaps”.
Shane Geraghty, BL, prosecuting (instructed by Sandra Mahon, Offaly state solicitor) applied for Mr Hogan to be remanded in custody in advance of sentencing.
Mr Geraghty said the man had a total of 42 previous convictions including one for assault, eight for public order offences, 19 for road traffic offences, three for violent disorder and convictions for possession of knives and refusal to provide fingerprints.
Mr Nugent said he would like sentencing to be finalised within the next couple of weeks, adding that his client was a father of five and the owner of six horses.
Judge Munro remanded Mr Hogan in custody and scheduled a sentencing hearing for May 8 next, commenting that he had pleaded not guilty but was convicted of “a quite serious assault”.
(Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme)