ONE of Limerick’s high-profile legal aid solicitors has been cleared of assaulting a colleague outside the District Court office as claims of client poaching and abuse were heard before Judge Denis McLoughlin. During the hearing, John Devane said that he was outraged when for the second time in three weeks he saw fellow legal aid solicitor John Herbert talking to a client that he believed he still represented.
He asked Mr Herbert what he was doing and if he “yet again trying to poach another client” and asked for time to speak with his client. He felt Mr Herbert did not give him the privacy he sought to talk to his client.
John Herbert, who is a former British and Irish universities boxing champion, had earlier told the court that the client first called him to the custody area of Limerick District Court asking him to take over his cases. He advised the client to give an instruction to John Devane and a suitable application could be made to the courts.
On the second occasion, the court heard from Mr Herbert that the client’s father approached him outside the courthouse seeking him to take over the cases. At this point, Mr Herbert said that John Devane came on scene and started “spitting invective and abuse”. John Devane struck him twice in the groin on the pelvic area. He added that John Devane followed him from the front of the District Court building over towards the Circuit Court building and that Mr Devane tried to trip him but “thankfully, I didn’t fall as I had a purpose to my stride”.
The court heard that the two colleagues did not have an “amicable” working relationship in the legal community and that “tension” existed between them.
John Devane said that John Herbert was a “bully and known to be a bully in the past”.
Mr Herbert said that he was subject to a “tirade of abuse and an assault” from John Devane and that he had been “dealing with this abuse for some time”. He said that some of the comments were “deeply personal and hurtful’ and it was not the first time he heard them.
Mr Devane said that he was a “small man, he’s a big man. I didn’t fancy my chances against him”. He also outlined his medical history and a recent operation he had to the throat area. He claimed that Mr Herbert grabbed him by the throat after the confrontation outside the District Court building. Mr Devane explained that this was an “extremely sensitive area” for him and that any contact he may have made with Mr Herbert would have been “reflexed” and not an assault.
Mr Herbert said he felt Mr Devane was going to headbutt him at one point and that he lowered his head in a defensive pose. “It was then I was hit in the groin in a very short sharp movement, not a swing. It was extraordinarily sneaky”.
Judge Denis McLoughlin heard from fellow legal aid solicitor Chris Lynch on what he saw on the date in question, but the judge said it contradicted what Mr Herbert said.
Dismissing the case, the judge said that on the basis of some “inconsistencies and the robust denial” of John Devane, the State “did not achieve the required level to prove the case”.
“I do not believe anyone was telling lies”, said the judge adding that the evidence was given on what people believed what happened as the events of the day.
John Devane, pictured left, was cleared of assaulting his fellow legal aid solicitor, John Herbert pictured on the right.
