Man in his 70s assaulted in north Louth

A man who denied assaulting a man in his 70s in north Louth, has been convicted and sentenced to four months after a contested hearing at Dundalk District Court.

Shane O'Brien (43) of Slievenaglough, Jenkinstown, who represented himself in court, had pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault arising out of the incident at Maddoxland, Riverstown on May 9th 2023.

The complainant, who was 71 at the time, gave evidence of being at home with his wife that evening when the defendant rapped on his window and walked around the property before he shouted "Come out".

He said when they went to the door, the defendant, who is married to a relative, pushed his wife and hit him a thump in the face, as the witness's wife was filming on her mobile phone.

He claimed "he busted me in the face with a punch".

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The man denied during cross examination by the accused that he had edited the footage that was played in court and replied "definitely not" when Mr. O'Brien claimed the man's wife had assaulted him three times with her left hand, while she was filming.

When Mr. O'Brien told the man that he had been shown photos of a "badly injured foot"(which he denied causing) the complaint replied that it happened "when you pushed the door in".

The woman told the court the defendant had pushed her and her husband and struck the complainant twice to the right side of his face.

She replied "No" when Mr O'Brien claimed he'd seen her assault her husband.

When the accused told the investigating Garda, that the video played in court was one minute 41 seconds long and the couple had said they had filmed him for much longer, the witness replied it wasn't disclosed to him that there was "a full recording".

The Defendant, under oath, gave evidence that he had called to the property to speak to the man, after he had phoned and was not allowed to talk to him.

Judge Nicola Andrews in convicting him, said she was not concerned with what happened before or after the incident, which she said was captured in the video played to the court.

After hearing the 43-year-old has no previous convictions, Judge Andrews said the case had been fully contested and the age of the injured party and the defendant's “extremely menacing” behaviour were aggravating factors.

She imposed a four month sentence, which Mr. O'Brien subsequently appealed.