A LIMERICK sex shop owner has been convicted of assaulting a 63-year-old man “and nearly blinding” him by punching him in the face and breaking his glasses.
At Limerick District Court last week, Damian Cuddihy (46) of Utopia, Ellen Street, Limerick, denied a charge of assault causing harm to Anthony Whelan, of Bloomfield, Annacotty on October 4, 2013.
Mr Whelan told Judge Aeneas McCarthy that he was getting in to his jeep outside the Castletroy branch of Fine Wines off-licence when Mr Cuddihy opened the passenger door and punched him in the face, telling him to ” leave my f**king young fella alone”.
He fell out the door of his jeep with the force of the punch. After getting back into the jeep, he went to Henry Street Garda station and made a complaint.
Blood was flowing from a cut to his eye and Gardaí told him to have his injury immediately tended to in hospital. Two days later, he made a formal statement of complaint.
A medical report was handed in to the court outlining the injuries Mr Whelan received as a result of the punch as well as a photograph taken by Gardaí at the time.
In cross examination, Mr Whelan accepted that there was no longer any ill-feeling between himself and the sex shop owner.
“He could have blinded me – he nearly blinded me”, Mr Whelan said as he denied a suggestion from defence barrister Aaron Desmond BL that it was a “shakedown” for a personal injury claim.
In his evidence, Mr Cuddihy said that he knew Mr Whelan for almost 20 years and denied hitting him that night.
He said that when he arrived at the off-licence, he was beckoned over by Mr Whelan who beeped his horn. Mr Whelan claimed he had a pain in his head and Mr Cuddihy responded that he wasn’t a doctor and left.
When Sgt Donal Cronin put it to him that he caused the injury to Mr Whelan by punching him, Mr Cuddihy said “that’s not what happened, I know what happened and I deny doing that”.
Mr Desmond said that the court had to have doubt in the case as there were “two different stories going about and the evidence is uncertain at best”.
Rejecting the submission, Judge McCarthy imposed a €500 fine on Damian Cuddihy, allowing him 12 weeks to pay.
