This article is from page 13 of the 2005-11-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
A RUAN publican in his late fifties, who was beaten repeatedly with his walking stick in a frenzied random at- tack, has told how he feared he would be beaten to a pulp.
Michael Moloney was giving evi- dence in the case of Fergus Casey (23), of Ruan, who pleaded guilty to assault- ing the publican and also assaulting Donal Brohan, in Ruan on September 7, 2004.
Gda Brian O’Donnell said Mr Molo- ney was going for a walk, shortly after closing his pub, when he heard a noise.
He went to see where the noise came from and saw the accused, Fergus Ca- Seas
Casey took his stick from him and struck him up to 30 times. Some of the blows were to the head and he was still being beaten while he bled.
Fr Pat O’Neill went to the assistance of the man being beaten as did another man, Donal Brohan, who was hit with a rock to the head.
The accused said to the publican: “you think that you own the village,” the court heard.
“There was no obvious cause to it. It was a frenzied attack that happened when he was out waking his dog,” said Gda O’Donnell.
Casey’s barrister said his client was involved in two altercations with Mr Moloney prior to this incident, but Gda O’Donnell said he had no knowledge of that.
Casey, who has four previous convic-
tions, including two for burglary and one for assault causing harm, took his victim by surprise.
“I know Fergus Casey since he was a child and I wouldn’t expect he would do this,” said Mr Moloney, adding that the accused was in his pub earlier that night.
“He was in a frenzied mood. It was very frightening.
“From that day to this, I get night- mares. Only for Fr O’Neill I wouldn’t be here.
‘He would have beaten me to a pulp.”
When the accused’s barrister apolo- gised to Mr Moloney, he replied, “‘apol- ogies aren’t much good to me if I was found dead in Ruan, part of the stats. This man needs to get help.”
Casey’s sister told the court he has en- dured considerable difficulties through- out his life.
‘Fergus needs help. It’s been a con- tinuous cry for help,” said his sister, who accepted that Mr Moloney could have been killed.
Judge Carroll Moran said, “Mr Molo- ney got a dreadful hiding and whether or not there was something behind it, there was certainly no need for it.
“It was a cowardly, mean thing to do … nasty.”
He said a lengthy prison sentence might go nowhere towards solving the accused’s problems.
He adjourned the case for a year to see how he behaves and said he would not rule out a prison term of three to four years.