AFTER a trial which lasted three days, a jury took less than 30 min- utes to find a Ballyvaughan man not guilty of assaulting an off-duty garda, knocking him unconscious and breaking his nose.
Brendan d’Arcy (22), of Glenfort, Bally vaughan, had pleaded not guilty to the charge of assaulting Adrian
Cosgrave in Ballyvaughan on Janu- ary 1, 2008, causing him harm.
Ennis circuit court heard various witnesses say that the accused had either kicked or headbutted Mr Cos- grave after the injured party went to remonstrate with him about his driv- bite
It was claimed Mr Cosgrave’s pas- senger was sitting on the door frame with his hands on the roof of the car
as he drove through Ballyvaughan.
Mr d@’Arcy denied that Mr Cosgrave produced his Garda ID before he tried to take the keys of the car out of the ignition.
He said in a statement to gardai that Mr Cosgrave was shouting and was very aggressive and he feared that Mr Cosgrave was about to attack him.
He agreed that he punched the in- jured party but said that he did so in
self-defence.
In the witness box, Mr Cosgrave said he and a large group of friends had gone to Ballyvaughan for the night to celebrate.
After summations, Judge Raymond Fullam sent the jury home on Fri- day and told them they could begin their deliberations on Tuesday. They returned a not guilty verdict on Tues- day morning.