A wealthy deer farmer and former garda who put a 13-year-old boy into a pen with wild boars to frighten him has been sentenced to six weeks in jail. He was convicted at Mitchelstown District Court yesterday of assaulting the boy and his friend.
Pat Mulcahy, a former garda and father of three, of Ballinwillin House, Mitchelstown, denied three counts of assaulting Philip Heaphy and twice assaulting John Sexton (13) on April 1st last.
John Sexton broke down as he said Mulcahy had pulled him by the hair, put him into his Mercedes and brought him to his farm after he caught him and some friends messing with the automatic gate to his estate. He was put "in the pen with the wild boars. They were like pigs only bigger. There were 20 or 30 of them and they started coming over to me . . . I was in the corner, crying." After about two minutes Mulcahy freed him, caught him by the hair and "punched me in the stomach and pulled me down and he hit me on the back of the head," said John, adding that Mulcahy then pushed him towards his Irish wolfhound and said the dog would eat him. Philip Heaphy said that Mulcahy had earlier bundled him into his Mercedes after he caught him walking from the gate. He asked him if he had been pressing the buzzer and, when he said his friends had, he questioned him about who they were.
Both boys admitted they had been with a third boy when he pressed buzzer on Mulcahy's gate. However, both denied they had been messing with the buzzer all evening. Philip admitted he had been in trouble before over pressing the buzzer and throwing eggs. John agreed they used to knock on doors and run away.
Garda Gerry Murphy said the boys' faces were very puffy that night. They obviously had been crying.
Judge Michael Pattwell asked why there had not been a charge of false imprisonment. Insp Michael Keogh said Garda Murphy had recommended it, but Supt Kieran McGann had opted not to proceed with it.
Mrs Miriam Mulcahy told the court that children had been pressing the buzzer for two hours that night. When her husband came home, she asked him to deal with it.
Mulcahy said he found wires pulled out, and there was £1,500 worth of damage. Three young fellows were climbing over the gate. He saw Philip Heaphy with his fists clenched, shouting abuse at him. He never went near Philip, he said.
He later found John Sexton and asked him if he had been with Philip at the gate. John said he was sorry for causing trouble. When it was pointed out that the gate was broken and would have to be paid for, Sexton begged him not to bring him to the gardai.
Mulcahy said he had had an exemplary record as a garda before he had to retire because of injury. "I never hit either of them and I have never hit a child."
Judge Pattwell said he was satisfied that the Mulcahys had a problem with youngsters pressing the buzzer, but that did not justify or excuse Mulcahy's reaction. "What I cannot ignore is that a grown man went over and beyond what was proper in this case - a man who made a point of telling me he was a good member of An Garda Siochana," he said.
Judge Pattwell sentenced Mulcahy to a month in jail for assaulting John Sexton in the yard and gave him consecutive sentences of seven days each for assaulting John Sexton and Philip Heaphy on the roadway.
* Mr Mulcahy was cleared of all charges following a retrial at Fermoy Circuit Court in 2000.
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