Three men caught up in County Limerick pub stabbing pay debt to society

THREE men caught up in a pub stabbing have made a positive difference in their community by doing voluntary work, Kilmallock Court heard.

They will have no criminal convictions if they pay €350 each to the court poor box.

Ian Maguire, aged 35, of Portauns, Kilmallock; Benny Burke, aged 28, of Radhairc na Coille, Kilmallock and Jason Heffernan, aged 28, of Glenfield, Kilmallock all previously pleaded guilty to violent disorder.

The offences occurred at 7.20pm on August 20, 2017 when an altercation took place in the pool room of Daffy’s pub in Kilmallock.

Garda Robert Young had previously outlined to Kilmallock Court that the three defendants were not involved in the stabbings.

“During the course of the altercation three males received stab wounds. There were eight involved.

“The three defendants were not involved in the stabbings. They were involved in exchanging blows. There were no serious assaults. They all attended Bruff garda station and made cautioned statements relating to the incident,” said Garda Young, who added that none of the accused have previous convictions.

Brendan Gill, solicitor for Mr McGuire, Mr Burke and Mr Heffernan, put it to Garda Young that the three weren’t the aggressors in the original incident.

Garda Young agreed.

Mr Gill said the difficulties arose when their two friends were stabbed.   

Garda Young said that was accepted and that their actions were “reactive”.

Mr Gill said the three defendants gave full and frank statements and had never come to the attention of gardai before the incident.

“Yes,” said Garda Young.

The solicitor described the events as “extremely unfortunate”.

“A friend had returned from Australia. He was leaving the next day. The three accused went to the pub to watch a soccer match. Alcohol was not a factor as they were all getting up for work the next day.

“They had no involvement in the initial altercation. They became aware of what happened and then it was reactive. They broke it up,” said Mr Gill.

Last May, Judge Marian O’Leary ordered them to do voluntary work, including cleaning up a handball alley, as part of their punishment.

At the last sitting of Kilmallock Court, Mr Gill said a report on the work completed was “very positive”.

“They haven’t come to garda attention since then,” said Mr Gill.

Judge O’Leary said she will strike the matters out against all three if they each pay €350 to the court poor box.

Last October, Sean Todd, aged 35, of Gortboy, Kilmallock also pleaded guilty to violent disorder in the local court. He received the “most serious injuries”. Like the other three defendants, Mr Todd was defending a friend.

As he was only back in Kilmallock on holiday from Australia and couldn’t do the voluntary work, he was ordered to pay €500 to the court poor box. The money was handed over that day and the violent disorder charge was struck out against Mr Todd.