The cousin of a man allegedly assaulted by Independent councillor Jackie Healy-Rae has told Tralee Circuit Court he saw Mr Healy-Rae land a very forceful punch on the man’s face.
Mr Healy-Rae, of Sandymount, Kilgarvan, is appealing a suspended jail sentence for assaulting Kieran James in two separate incidents in Kenmare in the early hours of the 28 December 2017.
Jackie’s brother Kevin, also of Sandymount Kilgarvan, and Malachy Scannell, of Inchinacoosh, Kilgarvan will now serve suspended sentences after they both withdrew the appeals against their convictions.
Jackie Healy-Rae’s appeal hearing, which began yesterday, has been continuing at Tralee Circuit Court today.
Two of Mr James’ cousins, Neily and Jane O’Sullivan, both from Kilgarvan, came under cross examination this morning.
Both had been out in Kenmare with Mr James, his then-fiancé, and two other cousins on the night of Mr James’ assault.
Both told the court they had seen the two Healy-Rae brothers in the Square Pint previous to the two incidents, with Kevin described as dancing erratically.
Neily O’Sullivan, who was the sober designated driver in the group on the night, gave evidence that outside the chip van, Jackie Healy-Rae had a chokehold on his cousin, whose face was turning red.
In the second incident, Mr O’Sullivan told the court that he saw Jackie Healy-Rae land a very forceful punch into Mr James’ face, and said he’s sure this was the punch that broke his cousin’s nose.
Defending barrister John Berry pointed out this was speculative, and said the evidence he gave wasn’t borne out by CCTV footage shown in court.
For the prosecution, barrister Tom Rice read back to the court excerpts of the original garda interviews conducted with Jackie Healy-Rae relating to this incident, taken on 6 March 2018 in Killarney.
Mr Healy-Rae told gardaí in the course of those interviews that there was an older man lunging at Kevin at the chip van, so he restrained him by holding him in a headlock.
He said that he and his brother then went up Main Street not to follow the group they had been in an altercation with, but to see if other chippers were open as they had not got food at the van.
Mr Healy-Rae told gardaí he did not remember a third man being with him and his brother, and when later shown CCTV footage of the night, said this could have possibly been Malachy Scannell.
He said in his garda interviews he did not see anyone hit anyone, and he did not know how Mr James sustained his injuries.
