A CONTESTED case of assault, causing harm, at an O’Driscoll Clan Gathering in Baltimore in 2023 was heard at a recent sitting of Skibbereen District Court.
The accused, Paul O’Driscoll of The Castle Cellar, Baltimore, denied assaulting Martin O’Driscoll and causing him harm, in the blue room of Bushe’s Bar on the night of June 25th 2023.
As a witness for the prosecution, Martin O’Driscoll said he approached Paul O’Driscoll and asked him to refrain from singing ‘a vulgar rugby song about women and their private parts.’
Martin O’Driscoll said he asked him politely but later on Paul O’Driscoll approached him from behind, while he was seated, and ‘clotheslined’ him by grabbing him violently around the neck and jerking his neck upwards while saying, ‘Don’t ever speak to me like that again.’
The witness said his neck was sore and stiff and he attended a GP.
That GP was also called as a witness, and told the court that his patient had pain in his neck and shoulder and had difficulty moving his head in either direction.
The doctor said Martin O’Driscoll complained of disrupted sleeping due to discomfort, and a pain in his lower lumbar that radiated to his ankle.
Barrister Mahon Corkery (BL) instructed by Colette McCarthy, solicitor, cross-examined the witness and put it to him that his focus was on taking a civil claim against their client.
However Martin O’Driscoll denied this saying: ‘My focus was on my health.’
Paul O’Driscoll was not called to give evidence in the case, but the barrister put it to the witness that it was he who was intoxicated and not telling the truth about the events that night.
Martin O’Driscoll said he only had two pints and ‘a drop of whiskey’ all night and that he would ‘not commit a cowardly act of perjury.’
The barrister put it to the witness that he was making a nuisance of himself and trying to control the sing-song.
Martin O’Driscoll denied that and also denied the barrister’s submission that he had ‘remonstrated with Paul O’Driscoll aggressively.’
The barrister asked the witness if he put his finger into Paul O’Driscoll’s face and told him not to sing those songs, and he asked if there was ‘spittle coming out of your mouth.’
‘I asked him politely to refrain from singing vulgar songs in mixed company,’ said the witness, who described the rugby song as ‘vile.’
The barrister questioned the State’s rationale in bringing a Section 3 charge of assault causing harm, an offence that differs greatly from a Section 2 common assault charge.
The barrister also called Anne Boyle O’Driscoll, and her husband, John Boyle O’Driscoll, to give evidence of what they saw that night.
They both said they saw Martin O’Driscoll approach Paul O’Driscoll and call him ‘a vile man.’
They described how Martin O’Driscoll was ‘spitting his words into Paul’s face’ and they also said that Paul O’Driscoll did not put his arm around the neck of the witness or assault him in any way.
After considering the evidence, Judge William Aylmer said a Section 3 charge is ‘a very serious matter that could result in 12-months imprisonment and a maximum fine of €2,500.’
The judge said the prosecution is always obliged to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
In this instance, Judge Aylmer said: ‘I am not satisfied that there is any evidence of assault causing harm’, and dismissed the charge against Paul O’Driscoll.
