One man has been jailed for two years and a co-accused for one year for assaulting a woman and her mother during a night out in a Cork pub over a year ago.
Michael Murphy (33) was sentenced to two years in jail and his co-accused, Garrett Hill (34) was sentenced to 12 months in jail for the two separate assaults on the same night.
Murphy, of Woodfield Hall, Station Road, Blarney, Co Cork, had denied a charge of assault causing harm to Laura O'Callaghan outside Soho bar in Cork city on February 16th, 2014
Hill, of The View, Gleann Na Rí, Tower, Blarney, had denied assault causing harm to Breda O’Callaghan O’Connell, Ms O’Callaghan’s mother, inside Soho on the same date.
But the jury of seven men and five women at Cork Circuit Criminal Court took just two and a half hours to find Murphy and Hill each guilty of the two separate charges.
Slapped across face
Judge Sean Ó Donnabhain said he was allowing for the fact there had been a disturbance in the bar earlier, and that Laura O’Callaghan had slapped Murphy across the face during the row.
However, that matter had been finished when Murphy came out of a laneway and went around to the front of the pub, where he attacked Ms O’Callaghan.
“He took her completely unawares and dealt her a cowardly blow to the head which floored her,” said Judge Ó Donnabhain, who noted the deliberateness of the assault.
He noted Murphy had more than 40 previous convictions, including one for firearms offences, as he sentenced him to two years for the assault causing harm.
CCTV footage
With regard to Hill, Judge Ó Donnabhain said he could be seen on CCTV footage in Soho getting involved in the row after Laura O’Callaghan had slapped Murphy.
Hill could be seen reaching over others to punch the face of Ms O’Callaghan O’Connell, a middle-aged woman who was some distance from him at the time, he said.
Judge Ó Donnabhain noted Ms O’Callaghan O’Connell still did not know what caused Hill to hit her as he sentenced him to 12 months in jail for the assault.
