A JUDGE heard details of a violent row on Friday night (February 9) on Limerick City’s main thoroughfare in which two men were left with stab wounds and a pregnant woman was attacked with a Stanley knife.
The alleged incident, which occurred outside a fast food restaurant on O’Connell Street in Limerick City, was filmed on several camera phones and CCTV and widely shared across social media, the court heard.
Two Limerick City men were arrested, charged, and brought before a special sitting of Limerick District Court in Nenagh, County Tipperary, on Sunday.
Pierce Doran (26), of 15 Altimera Court, Thomondgate, and Wayne Kennedy (39), of 2 Catherine Street, were both brought before Judge Elizabeth McGrath on charges related to a number of alleged incidents, the most recent taking place on Friday night last.
Both men were before the same special weekend sitting, but the cases against either getting bail were heard individually. The two men were not present in the courtroom at the same time.
Both men appeared in court with visible injuries to their faces, and Pierce Doran was using crutches.
Garda Ryan Harkin told the court that it will be alleged that, on January 28, Mr Kennedy threw an object through the window of an apartment on Catherine Street in the city.
He said it will be alleged that CCTV showed Pierce Doran then striking Mr Kennedy with a long-handled implement, after which Mr Kennedy ran to Catherine Street where Gardaí called to the scene found him “being treated by an ambulance crew” with “a deep laceration on his forearm and the bone was showing”.
The Garda said in the witness box that the incident on Friday was clearly captured on a number of cameras and widely shared on social media.
It is alleged, Garda Harkin said, that the footage will show Mr Kennedy walking on O’Connell Street at 9.30pm on Friday evening last with a woman and another man when the other man was approached by Mr Doran and an argument ensued in which Mr Kennedy became involved.
The Garda said that Mr Doran then produced a Stanley knife, inflicting a wound to the back of Mr Kennedy’s neck, after which Mr Doran was knocked to the ground and a violent exchange took place, involving all three men. The court heard Mr Doran suffered serious wounds to his leg and his face in the incident.
When Mr Doran was on the ground, the court heard, CCTV footage captured the woman kicking him and Mr Doran getting back to his feet and striking out at her face and body with the Stanley knife.
“Fortunately,” Garda Harkin said, “it appears the blade section of the knife came loose of the handle and Gardaí found this on the ground near the handle section at the scene”.
The Garda agreed that initially there could be a case for Mr Kennedy’s defence to say he was acting in self defence, “but he had ample opportunity to leave the scene”.
Referring to the fact that the blade had come out of the handle at the time Mr Doran was striking out at the pregnant woman, Garda Harkin said that “as far as he knew, there was a blade” present.
Garda Harkin said that the entire incident, which lasted around 10 minutes, was witnessed by about 40 members of the public, some of whom fled in fright.
He said that afterwards, while being interviewed by Gardaí under caution, Mr Kennedy said he was acting in self defence, adding “I used his own hand”, when referring to how Mr Doran had been cut.
He said that Mr Doran discharged himself from University Hospital Limerick against medical advice and, when he was subsequently arrested and questioned, he denied having produced any knife.
The Garda witness agreed with defence that the knife recovered at the scene had not yet been forensically tested for fingerprints.
Prosecuting Garda Inspectors Liz Kennedy and Aiden Lonergan told Judge McGrath that they were objecting to bail.
The court heard that in both cases the men had “blatant disregard” for the crowded location at which they became involved in Friday night’s violent incident to which the Garda Armed Response Unit was called.
Pierce Doran appeared charged with violent disorder and production of a knife. Wayne Kennedy is facing charges of violent disorder and criminal damage.
Taking into account the evidence she had heard from the Garda witness and the serious nature of the pending charges, Judge McGrath said she was refusing bail but both accused were entitled to apply for bail in the High Court.
Both were individually remanded to appear before Limerick District Court on February 13.
