A solicitor acting for a man who appeared before Trim District Court on an assault charge told the court that his client was “just back from Ukraine fighting at the front”. Dermot Monahan was representing Harvey Jackson, Bective Avenue, Bective Lodge, Kilmessan who had been charged with assaulting Shelley Walsh at Dunshaughlin Park on 4 th April 2024. The case was heard on 12 th July last but the defendant did not appear in court on that date and his explanation that there had been a mix-up in his post was not accepted by Judge Eirinn McKiernan when the case was resumed on Tuesday this week.
The previous hearing was told by dog walker Sean Dunne that when he saw a woman going towards a man during an altercation in the park he thought she was going to “chest bump” him. Mr Dunne said he heard a “ruckus” and “raised voices” but what he heard was “unintelligible”. He said he saw Shelley Wash with a “pitcher” (golf stick) . “When she got into the defendant’s space he delivered two or three punches and she went down”.
Cross-examined by the defending solicitor at that hearing Mr Dunne said he was not attached to either party. He said he had seen Ms Walsh with the golf club in a threatening manner. He thought she was going to “chest bump” the defendant. When Mr Monahan put it to him that his client might have been defending himself, Mr Dunne said that “there was no immediate danger that I saw”.
Garda Owen McHugh had told the court that he received a complaint from Ms Walsh about being assaulted by defendant. She had a bruised lip and a cut inside her lip. He had interviewed the defendant who had made no reply to some of his questions but he then said that the woman had entered his personal space and that he had been “forced to defend myself”.
Ms Walsh had said there had been an incident between her son and Harvey Jackson and she had asked defendant to leave her son alone. She said that when she went to the park, the defendant “ran for me and punched me”.
Judge McKiernan had convicted defendant of assault and issued an arrest warrant when he failed to appear. When the case resumed this week the judge said defendant had a previous conviction for a similar offence (Section 3 assault) . She sentenced him to four months imprisonment.
