A PENSIONER convicted of assaulting a Census field supervisor has been warned by a judge not to post anything ‘malign’ about the injured party or his colleague on social media.
Judge James McNulty made the warning to Michael Allen (66) at Bandon District Court last week after he handed down a six-month suspended sentence for assaulting Kieran Burns.
Mr Allen of Garrylucas, Garrettstown, denied the charge of assault, or telling Mr Burns and his colleague Laura Coholan to ‘get the hell off’ his property on March 15th in 2022.
Laura Coholan told the court that she was employed as a Census numerator last year to cover about 350 households in the Old Head and Garrettstown area. On March 8th last year she called to the defendant’s home to deliver the form.
‘He opened a window at the front of the house. I told him who I was and before I uttered another word he launched a verbal attack. He said he didn’t give a f*** who I was, and to get the hell off his property. He said he wouldn’t be answerable to anyone,’ she said.
Ms Coholan said she got ‘such a fright’ because she had never experienced something like that before.
‘I left, went back to my car, but I had to stop because I got such a fright. A neighbour came along to see was I okay. He said not to go back to Mr Allen’s house as he’s “anti-everything”.’
She reported the incident to her field supervisor, Kieran Burns. They both called back to the property on March 15th last. When they rang the bell, Mr Allen opened the window and launched into a ‘verbal attack’ again.
‘He said: “I don’t give a f** who you are and get the hell off my property.” He then came flying out the front door and pushed Kieran by the chest.’
Kieran Burns told the court that he tried to explain why they were there, but that Mr Allen didn’t stop shouting.
‘He came out the door and pushed me in the chest, knocking me back and he kept shouting all the time. He then ran back into the house. We were frozen and shocked. We didn’t know what would happen next,’ said Mr Burns, who said all they wanted to do was to explain about the forms and that it was ‘no big deal.’
He said he never had a chance to have a conversation with him.
‘It was the most feared I was in a long time. We didn’t know what to do, or what would happen next.’
Solicitor Killian Mullane asked him if they had considered other methods of delivering the Census form to Mr Allen, and pointed out that the form was eventually posted to his client, which was later filled in.
Mr Burns said they went back to the house to explain the procedure and later rang gardaí to report the assault.
Gda Ricky O’Sullivan said that when he arrived at Mr Allen’s house, the defendant opened a window.
‘His tone was aggressive, he was pointing a phone in my direction. He said it was private property and to get off it. I told him I was there on foot of a complaint of an alleged assault but he declined to make a statement. His manner wasn’t calm and he was animated,’ said Gda O’Sullivan.
Michael Allen said their family policy is not to engage with any strangers who knock on their front door, regardless of who they are. He said this was due to a previous attempted burglary and the fact that his wife suffers from anxiety. He said he told Laura Coholan to put the Census form in his postbox and he told her that he wouldn’t engage with her on the first day she called.
He denied being in any way aggressive on the second occasion, when Mr Burns and Ms Coholan were outside his front door.
‘I pleaded with them to leave but they wouldn’t and then I walked out the door and asked them again, as they were stressing my wife out,’ said Mr Allen, who denied assaulting Mr Burns.
‘He turned to leave and stopped suddenly and lent back towards me – his elbow came into me. His jaw was twitching and then he said he would call the gardaí.’ His daughter, Kathleen, gave evidence and said she was there on the first day and said that if she had heard him speaking in bad language in front of her kids, she would have stepped in.
Judge McNulty said the assault was proved by the prosecution and that the Census numerators had a right to be there as they were on lawful business.
‘This family policy of not answering the door to strangers seems remarkably rigid and dogmatic. What if it’s a TV inspector or meter reader calling to their door?’ asked Judge McNulty.
He said the court considers an assault on a civil servant to be an aggravating factor and a serious one, and he sentenced him to six months in prison, but suspended it for two years.
He also directed Mr Allen not to malign either party on social media.
‘He’s not entitled to malign people who give truthful evidence that would stray into contempt of court,’ said Judge McNulty.
Recognisances for an appeal were fixed in the defendant’s own bond of €2,000, with half of that to be provided in cash.
