A jury has been told how a father of five, who was on a short break home to Co Clare, was assaulted by three men outside a village pub last September, died from his injuries during last year.
At Ennis Circuit Court yesterday, John O'Kelly SC, prosecuting, said Vincent Hehir (32) died three days later arising from injuries sustained during the assault in Kildysart, Co Clare.
Mark O'Connor (19), Rosscliffe, Ballynacally, Michael Finn (34), Ennis Road, Kildysart, and Noel Murphy (24), Crovraghan, Kildysart all deny the manslaughter of Mr Hehir on September 6th.
In his opening statement to the jury of nine men and three women, Mr O'Kelly said that evidence would be heard that raised voices were heard in the area of the Corner Bar pub, Kildysart, about 11.30pm on the night in question.
Mr O'Kelly said: "You will hear from Patricia McMahon, who will be a very important witness and saw Vincent Hehir fall to the ground with the three accused men around him. Michael 'Brian' Finn was seen kicking Mr Hehir on the ground and Ms McMahon shouted at him to stop and his reaction was to say that he didn't start it."
Mr O'Kelly added that Mr Hehir was then helped on to a seat against a wall with an amount of difficulty. "He slumped over and made a snoring sound. Gardaí were called and an ambulance transferred Mr Hehir to hospital and then to intensive care and three days later he died of his injuries sustained in the assault."
Mr O'Kelly said a postmortem by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis found that the principal injury to Mr Hehir was a severe injury to the back of the head. "This possibly occurred when he went down from a blow, we don't know."
Mr O'Kelly said it was the day of the All-Ireland hurling final and Mr Hehir went into Kildysart for a few pints at about 8.30pm, while he was home on a short break from London where he was a publican.
Mr O'Kelly said the three accused men were in Kildysart and had been drinking for a good part of the day.
"Mark O'Connor and Michael Brian Finn arrived at the Corner Bar shortly after it opened at 11.30am and Noel Murphy arrived at 1pm and they consumed quite a volume of alcohol over the day. There are a number of witnesses who will say that later in the evening, they were pretty drunk and boisterous."
A friend of Mr Hehir, Christopher O'Donoghue, told the court that he had a drink with Mr Hehir on the night. "He was in great form. We didn't realise that he had another child and he talked about his child and his other four kids."
The trial continues today.
