AN assault charge against a former county football star and GAA club chairman has been dismissed in the district court.
Noel Twomey, 55, of Killarney Road, Macroom, was charged with the assault causing harm of Daniel O’Leary, the coach of the Macroom senior football team.
The prosecution arose from an incident that occurred at TP Cotter’s bar in Macroom on September 24th, 2023. Mr Twomey admitted punching Mr O’Leary but claimed he was acting in self-defence.
Prosecuting, Insp Debra Marsh told Macroom District Court that Mr Twomey punched Mr O’Leary in the head on the night in question and the incident was captured on CCTV.
Det Garda Alan O’Sullivan showed a CCTV recording of the incident to the court. The footage shows the alleged injured party Daniel O’Leary leaving the toilets of TP Cotter’s followed shortly afterwards by Mr Twomey.
The two men face each other and Mr Twomey punches Mr O’Leary to the head twice. Following the second strike Mr O’Leary is seen falling to the ground.
Giving evidence, Daniel O’Leary told the court that he was the coach of the Macroom senior football team at the time.
He said that the team had won a crucial relegation game that day and had gone out in Macroom to celebrate.
He said that he had been told that Mr Twomey, who he did not know personally, had been ‘bad mouthing’ the team. Mr O’Leary said that he could not remember the assault but had been told he passed out after being punched.
He said that he ‘vaguely remembered’ words being exchanged with Mr Twomey ‘about football’ immediately before the alleged assault.
Noel Twomey told the court that Mr O’Leary had been drinking shots and beer in the bar and was very drunk. He said that when he left the toilets he merely congratulated the team on staying up and claimed that Mr O’Leary reacted to this with ‘a tirade of abuse’. He claimed that Mr O’Leary said: ‘You’re the b****x who’s been bad mouthing the team.’
Mr Twomey said it was his right to disagree about the team selection but told the court that he did not insult Mr O’Leary. Mr Twomey said that Mr O’Leary ‘went berserk’ and was backing him into a corner and he feared he was about to be attacked.
He said he struck Mr O’Leary in self defence. Mr Twomey said he called Mr O’Leary a few days later to apologise and believed that was the end of the matter.
He said that the incident had a serious impact on his life as he was a well-known businessman in the town and there had been calls for his removal from the club as a result.
Defence solicitor Jack Purcell said that his client was defending himself against an aggressive man who was ‘blind drunk’.
He said that the reason Mr O’Leary could not remember the incident was because he had been drinking for five hours and that there was no evidence that Mr Twomey had knocked him out, as he claimed.
Judge Philip O’Leary said that it was unfortunate that what should have been a day of celebration had been spoiled by the incident. He said that the evidence of the alleged injured party Daniel O’Leary was inconsistent and that the defendant, Mr Twomey, had provided a more cogent account of the events.
He said that he had a reasonable doubt as to what had actually occurred and on that basis, he dismissed the case.
