Offaly burglary and assault trial hears from grandmother and aunt of accused man
THE trial of a man alleged to have been involved in a burglary where a pensioner said he was beaten with shovels and threatened with a knife resumed at Tullamore Circuit Court on Tuesday morning.
Dylan Coughlan (22), Armstrong Grove, Clara, denies charges alleging aggravated burglary, assaulting John Sheerin, causing him harm, and threatening to kill or cause serious injury to John Sheerin, at 3 Kinclare, Clara on September 1, 2019.
Mr Coughlan has also pleaded not guilty to assaulting Derek Tuite at 5 Railway View, Clara, and to producing a bat, on the same date.
On Friday the jury heard evidence from a grandmother and aunt of Mr Coughlan which differed from information he was said to have given gardai.
The trial had been told that when gardai approached Mr Coughlan on the platform of the railway station in Clara a number of hours after the burglary and assault, the accused said he had spent the previous night at his grandparents' house.
However when Vera Coughlan, grandmother of Dylan Coughlan, was called to give evidence by prosecution counsel Kevin White, BL, she said her grandson was in her house for about 15 minutes on the evening in question and she recalled that he was wearing a black jacket when he left.
She said he did not stay the night and he wasn't there when she left for work at 7.15am on Sunday, September 1.
Another witness, Donna Melia, aunt of the accused, told the trial that she lived at the same address as Vera Coughlan and Dylan Coughlan and the defendant arrived home at 8.30am on that Sunday.
Ms Melia said he had not slept there the previous night but had been there for about 15 minutes at 10.30pm and was wearing a black jacket and grey tracksuit bottoms.
Detective Garda Andrew Dolan told the trial that Dylan Coughlan was arrested on September 5, 2019 at Eyre Square in Galway.
He was somewhat intoxicated and was crying in the patrol car as he was being conveyed to the station in Tullamore.
That night he was examined by a doctor and deemed medically unfit for interview and when he was interviewed later nothing of probative value emerged and he was released.
When he was charged on September 9 with threatening to kill John Sheerin he replied “Wooh”, said the detective, and in reply to the charge of aggravated burglary the accused said “Any more”.
The trial previously heard Mr Sheerin describe how two men beat him with shovels and put a knife to his throat during a burglary at his home.
Mr Sheerin, now aged 70, who lived alone at Kinclare, Clara, said he was hit about 10 times and one fellow put a knife to his throat and said he wanted money.
The elderly man went down to the kitchen and a knife was put to his back and he was told they would stick it in him if he was not given money.
His wallet was in his coat on the back of a chair in the kitchen and the men took €700 and the wallet, which contained his travel pass and medical card.
The second alleged victim, Derek Tuite, said he had been drinking in his house at Railway View with two men, Dylan Coughlan and Wayne Dolan, and he asked them to leave because he wanted to go to bed.
When eventually they left he said they asked him to leave the door unlocked because they'd be back in a while.
Mr Tuite said he ignored them, locked the door and went to bed and some hours later on September 1 he woke up and the two men had surrounded him and were shouting at him, asking why he locked the door.
He said Wayne Dolan jumped on him, put a knife to his neck and punched him and Dylan Coughlan, who had a pole or a bar in his hand, kicked him on the head.
He recalled saying to them: “Please stop, please stop, I done nothing wrong.”
He said he was beaten for a while and there was blood all over his bed sheets. He also remembered them telling him they had beaten someone up and taken money from him.
They showed him the money and he said it was about €200 or €300 each. He also said he was told by the men that they had used a pink fluffy cover from a hot water bottle as a mask.
The jury has heard that they need not concern themselves with Wayne Dolan because he is being dealt with by another court.