Farmer’s evidence was 'not credible' in mart assault case

A circuit court judge has ruled that the evidence given by a farmer who is also a Department of Agriculture official in an assault case was not credible.

The Department official denied assaulting another farmer at a mart in Co Mayo.

Judge Rory McCabe was speaking after hearing evidence in a district court appeal brought by Patrick Sweeney, who was fined €500 and ordered to pay €750 in compensation after being convicted in June 2017 of assaulting farmer, Gerry Carney in Balla Mart on 23 April 2016.

The appeal was denied at last week’s sitting of Castlebar Circuit Court after Judge McCabe ruled that Sweeney's evidence was not credible.

He replied ‘ya thick c**t ya’ and kept walking until he felt a boot between his two legs and was tripped

Animosity

The court heard that there was long-standing animosity between Mr Carney and Mr Sweeney and both men gave conflicting evidence of what they claimed occurred on the day.

Mr Sweeney was accused of swinging a mart gate which hit Mr Carney on the left shoulder. The two men had words with each other. Mr Sweeney was also accused of trying to trip Mr Carney and elbowing him in the side of the face.

Cock and bull

The defendant (63) claimed he opened the gate to let a 'wild' cow into a pen and the gate brushed against Mr Carney. He denied the allegation that he tripped or elbowed Mr Carney but Mr Vincent Deane, state solicitor accused Mr Sweeney of making up a 'cock and bull' story.

Following the evidence, Judge McCabe said he was certain about one thing, and that was he was told "lots of lies by people who each swore an oath to tell the truth". He also added another fact in the case that the two men did not like each other very much.

The judge said that the evidence of the prosecution witnesses was probed in detail by Mr Sweeney's defence and they were accused of being liars. He said he was satisfied the evidence Mr Carney and other prosecution witnesses gave, was their recollection of what happened on the day but was not satisfied with the credibility of the defendant's evidence.

Judge McCabe found that the State had proved their case but "in the interest if justice" he chose not to impose a conviction and gave Mr Sweeney the benefit of the Probation Act.

Incident

In his evidence Mr Carney said he was at the mart with his brother Oliver and was walking past cattle pens when a 10-foot gate was swung by Mr Sweeney and hit him ... he said he replied ‘ya thick c**t ya’ and kept walking until he felt a boot between his two legs and was tripped.

Mr Carney claimed Mr Sweeney was laughing and asking ‘are you tripping?’.

Mr Carney replied: "Not as good as your trip to Connemara" – a reference to when Mr Sweeney and his son went to Connemara to sell cattle but it turned out to be a hoax.

Lost the rag

The witness said Mr Sweeney 'lost the rag' and started arguing and shouting about "old nonsense" and he caught him in the left side of his jaw with his right elbow.

Mr Carney said his brother Oliver and Mr Sweeney's son, Fergus arrived on the scene and claimed Mr Sweeney told his son to get stuck into Oliver Carney and "don't back down".

Carney denied the suggestion by Mr Conall McCarthy, representing the defendant, that he was telling a pack of lies and the assault did not take place.

“Oh there was [an assault], definitely. I gave evidence under oath and I stand by every word of it,” Carney told the court. He also denied there was a 'wild' cow.

Oliver Carney said he observed Mr Sweeney push the gate which struck his brother and also the incident where he struck him with an elbow. Willie Faherty concurred, saying he saw Mr Sweeney hit Mr Carney with the gate and the two men arguing.

Defence

In his defence, Patrick Sweeney told the court he is a farmer and works full-time with the Department of Agriculture's wildlife services division. He said he was dealing with cattle he bought when he saw Willie Faherty driving a "wild" cow. He explained that for his own safety and the safety of others, he opened a gate to get the cow into a pen. This caused him to inadvertently collide with Mr Carney – the only physical contact between them, according to Sweeney.

He claimed that the two Carney brothers then got aggressive and started arguing.

Sweeney's son Fergus said he arrived and told his father not to waste his time with them and that was when the confrontation ended. He denied a claim by Mr Deane that his evidence was not what happened but what his father wanted him to say.

Wild animal

TJ Duffy, a former employee of the mart gave evidence in Mr Sweeney's defence saying he saw the wild animal and Mr Sweeney opening the gate to allow it to go safely into the pen. He said he did not see Mr Sweeney try to trip or elbow Mr Carney.

Mr Duffy did not give evidence in the original case and claimed he only knew about the court case after he read about the conviction in the Irish Farmers Journal. He said he met Mr Sweeney by chance in July 2017 and their conversation turned to the court case. He said he told Mr Sweeney that what he read was not he thought happened on that day. When asked by Mr Deane if he knew Mr Sweeney, he said he knew him from the mart, but later confirmed he was in the same course in UCD as one of Mr Sweeney's sons.

Verdict

After Judge McCabe ruled that the State had proven its case, Mr McCarthy explained his client had no previous convictions and was a man of previous good character. He asked Judge McCabe not to impose a conviction and instead give Sweeney the benefit of the Probation Act.

Judge McCabe agreed and stated that any matter of compensation was a matter of civil law.

Read more

Department employee convicted after assaulting farmer at mart