A man walking his dog in Dunshaughlin Park last year has told a court that when he saw a woman going towards a man during an altercation he thought she was going to “chest bump” him. Sean Dunne was giving evidence in a case in which Harvey Jackson, Bective Avenue, Bective Lodge Kilmessan was charged with assaulting Shelley Walsh on 4th April 2024. The defendant did not appear in court.
Garda Owen McHugh said that he received a complaint from Ms Walsh who said she had been assaulted by Harvey Jackson. She had a bruised lip and a cut inside her lip. A photo had been taken of the injury and the complainant sent it to him. The Garda said he interviewed defendant who made no answer to some of his questions but he then said that the woman had “entered my personal space and I was forced to defend myself”.
She said there had been an incident between her son and Harvey Jackson and she had asked him (defendant) to leave her son alone. She said that when she went to the park and the defendant had “ran for me and punched me”. Defending solicitor Dermot Monahan put it to the witness that she had a “metal object” in her hand but she denied this. She said she had picked up a stick at one stage but she had thrown it away. She said she had never stepped up to defendant or got close to him. “I was terrified”, she said.
Mr Dunne said in evidence that when he was walking his dog he heard “a ruckus”. Raised voices got his attention but what he hard had been “unintelligible”. He said he saw Shelley Walsh with a “pitcher” (golf stick). “When she got into his (defendants) space he delivered two or three punches and she went down”.
Cross-examined by Mr Monahan, the witness said he was not attached to either party. He told him that he saw Ms Walsh “with a golf club up in a threatening manner”. At one stage he thought she was going to “chest bump” defendant. She was going forward at the time. When Mr
Monahan asked him if it looked as if his client had been defending himself, Mr Dunne replied “there was no immediate danger that I saw”.
Mr Monahan asked Judge Eirinn McKiernan to dismiss the assault charge because there was “a conflict of evidence”. Judge McKiernan said that having heard the evidence from Mr Dunne and Ms Walsh she had decided to convict. Court Presenter Sergeant Peter Clarke said that defendant had seven previous convictions including those for money laundering and possession of drugs for sale or supply.
When defendant’s name was called at 1.30pm he failed to answer and the judge issued a bench warrant for his arrest.
