A Husband who defended his wife and her two friends against alleged muggers with a hurley and a hammer and left one unconscious and bloodied was found not guilty of assault in Cork yesterday.
Mr Michael Burke, Ardcullen, Cork, denied in Cork Criminal Circuit Court assaulting brothers Martin and Patrick Sheehan, causing them actual bodily harm, at Hollyhill, Cork, on July 15th last year.
Garda Malachy White said he went to the defendant's home in response to a call.
Mr Burke told him he had got a hurley and a hammer after two muggers attacked him, his wife Sheila and two of their friends in the early hours of the morning in the street.
Garda White said: "Burke said the men approached and at first asked for cigarettes. They then attacked. They were too much for Burke so he went home and got a hammer and a hurley which he used on the men."
"Burke's face was swollen and he was very worried and distressed."
He took Garda White to wasteland, where Mr Martin Sheehan was lying on the ground bleeding heavily from a serious head wound. Mr Patrick Sheehan was "jumping around and was very aggressive." He had to be restrained by three gardai.
Garda White said he spoke to the three women at Mr Burke's home. One told him her necklaces had been stolen by the muggers and they had tried to pull her wedding ring off her finger. The finger was very swollen.
Mrs Betty Higgins told of being accosted by muggers. The two men grabbed her and snatched her necklaces. "They pulled at my finger to try and get my wedding ring. My finger was broken in the attack," she said.
Mr Michael Burke tried to help her, but fell. The muggers attacked him. He ran to his home and came back and hit one of the assailants. "This man just laughed at him and kept hanging on to me, so Michael Burke hit him again and he let go."
Mr Pat McCarthy, for the State, told the jury there was no doubt the Sheehans had been guilty of criminal offence on the night in question. However, the prosecution contended that when the threat had passed, and when the need for self-defence had passed, Mr Burke assaulted the Sheehans in "a very serious manner".
"The prosecution says that he took revenge on the Sheehans and went much further than was necessary for self-defence."
Counsel for the defence said Mr Burke used only as much force as was necessary to defend himself and his companions and was not guilty of any offence.
The judge said the two alleged victims of the assault had not given evidence and there was nothing to suggest Michael Burke used more force than was reasonably required.
He directed the jury to find the defendant not guilty.