The 21-year-old son of John Ward, who was shot dead by Mayo farmer Pádraig Nally two years ago, pleaded guilty yesterday to assaulting another man by stabbing him three times with a knife when he appeared before Galway Circuit Criminal Court.
Father of one John Ward jnr, with addresses at Carrowbrowne Halting Site, and Longford, who is currently serving an 11-month sentence for motoring, theft and fraud offences, pleaded guilty to assaulting Eddie Corcoran, causing him harm, at The Meadows, Ballybrit, Galway, on March 18th last year.
The case first came before Judge Mary Fahy in the District Court in March. Reading a medical report handed into court then, the judge said it stated the victim had been stabbed three times. She refused jurisdiction to deal with the charge in her court.
Ward was sent forward to the Circuit Criminal Court where yesterday his barrister, Conal McCarthy, asked Judge Raymond Groarke to defer sentencing to July so that his client could be assessed by the Probation Service.
Judge Groarke deferred sentencing to July 17th and directed preparation of a probation and victim impact report.