A MAN accused of biting off part of his brother’s finger during a family wedding celebration was acquitted by a jury at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court.
Uche Georgewill-Manjor (42), of Garranmore, Pallasgreen, County Limerick, embraced supporters who clapped and cried after the verdict was delivered.
Uche had denied one count of intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to his younger brother Chukwuma Georgewill-Manjor, and one count of assault causing serious harm.
After two hours of deliberation, following the three-day trial, the jury’s unanimous not guilty verdict was read out Judge Tom O’Donnell, who told the accused “you are free to go”.
Chukwuma had given evidence that Uche had not been invited to a party that he and his wife were hosting at their home in Curragh Birin, Castletroy, on June 30, 2019, two days after their wedding.
The brothers were not on speaking terms, but Uche was asked to come to the house by Chukwuma’s wife, Jessica O’Connell, to see if the brothers could resolve their difficulties.
Chukwuma claimed that, after the pair had a verbal altercation outside the house, Uche headbutted him and he “headbutted Uche back”.
Chukwuma claimed that Uche bit off the top of his right index finger as they fought outside his house.
“I tried to pull it (the finger) back. He wasn’t releasing it, no matter how much I tried to hit him,” Chukwuma said.
“The pain was unbearable. It (his finger) was covered in blood and the tip was missing.”
Chukwuma said he went back into his house but went back outside again and, in a fit of “rage”, he hit Uche again and had to be pulled away from him.
The court heard the finger tip could not be reattached, despite it being recovered at the scene and brought to University Hospital Limerick with Chukwuma.
Under cross examination by Uche’s barrister, senior counsel Brian McInerney, instructed by junior counsel Liam Carroll and solicitor Sarah Ryan, Chukwuma denied he had been the aggressor on the night. When asked by Mr McInerney if he was a “violent man”, Chukwuma replied “no sir”.
The witness agreed with Mr McInerney that he received a two-year suspended sentence in 2023 after pleading guilty before Limerick Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting a man in a pub and causing him harm on July 28, 2019, a month after he said he was attacked by Uche.
Chukwuma told the court that a psychologist had told him that, on the occasion of assaulting the man in the pub, he may have acted out of character as a result of the “trauma” of losing his finger tip.
Chukwuma and Uche, natives of Nigeria, married sisters Jessica and Sinead O’Connell, however Uche and his now former wife Sinead were not invited to Chukwuma and Jessica’s wedding, nor where they invited to an African-themed celebration the following day, nor were they invited to the newlywed’s home on the night in question for a post-wedding gathering.
Jessica O’Connell gave evidence that, on the night in question, she asked a friend to bring Uche by her house to see if the brothers could resolve their differences for the sake of the children in their families.
Ms O’Connell told the court that Uche “lunged forward and headbutted Chukwuma into his face, and Chukwuma headbutted him back”.
She claimed she called for an ambulance for her injured husband but that, when it arrived, the paramedics told her they could not assist Chukwuma because he had been assaulted and that the area was a crime scene, and they left.
