This article is from page 13 of the 2012-05-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
A MAN has been found guilty of assaulting his brother with a hatchet at a halting site in Shannon last year.
James McDonagh (38), with an address at bay six Ballymurtagh, Shannon, attacked Michael McDonagh at he rear of their father’s home at the Ballymurtagh halting site on August 31.
Details of the assault were heard during a four-day trial at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court last week.
It took a jury 96 minutes to convict James McDonagh on one count of assault causing harm and another of possession of a hatchet with intent to cause injury. The court heard he has 97 previous convictions.
Half of Michael McDonagh’s left ear was severed in the assault while the father of four also suffered injuries to his scalp and abdomen.
He spent four days in hospital receiving treatment for his injuries.
James McDonagh, referred to throughout the trial as Michael James McDonagh, had denied the charges, claiming that he had acted in self-defence after his brother had attacked him with a hurley.
The court heard that a row over a car parked at the entrance of 81-yearold Frank McDonagh’s home at Ballymurtagh sparked the assault.
Counsel for the State, Stephen Coughlan BL, told the court that Frank McDonagh, father of Michael and James, blamed James for blocking the entrance.
He asked Michael to ring the gardaí who came and removed the car.
Michael McDonagh said that at around 8pm on the night in question, James McDonagh came running into his yard at bay five Ballymurtagh, wielding an orange and black handle hatchet.
He said, “He was roaring and shouting and swinging the hatchet and saying he was going to kill me.”
Michael McDonagh told the court that he ran from his home, where he had been watching television with his wife and children, and into the adjoining yard of his father’s bay.
He said he picked up a hurley to defend himself after he was “cornered” by James.
A struggle ensued and Michael McDonagh eventually managed to take the hatchet from his brother and throw it over the wall.
Frank McDonagh gave evidence of seeing James hit Michael “two or three clouts in the head with the hatchet.”
He added, “I heard Michael’s wife and kids screaming….I saw Michael running like a hare into my bay.”
Garda Barry Doherty of Shannon Garda Station attended the scene on the night. He said both Michael and James were covered in blood.
He said, “Michael McDongh’s ear was cut and half hanging off.” The hatchet was found in a field behind the halting site. James McDonagh was arrested and subsequently interviewed by gardaí.
In his closing speech, Mr Coughlan said. “The State’s case is that this was a willful attack by James McDonagh on his brother and he used a hatchet to do it.”
Counsel for the accused, Pat Whyms, said the State’s witnesses had given different accounts of the incident. He said the jury had to decide if the witnesses are “truthful and reliable.” He said James McDonagh had picked up the hatchet to defend himself.
Addressing the jury, Judge Gerald Keyes said, “If you are satisfied that the accused was the aggressor then it precludes him from using the defence of self defence.”
Mr Whyms urged the court to consider to suspending a portion of the sentence on condition that James McDonagh enters a treatment programme.
Sentencing of James McDonagh will be finalised on Thursday. The court heard he faces a maximum sentence of 10 years.