ALL-STAR Limerick hurler Kyle Hayes walked free from court today (March 20) after receiving fully suspended jail sentences following his convictions for “dangerous” violent disorder inside and outside a nightclub, during which he attacked a young carpenter who sustained serious facial injuries.
Immediately after the sentences were imposed, Mr Hayes’ barrister, Brian McInerney SC, shepherded the five-time All-Ireland winning hurler into a consultation room at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court, telling him that “the main thing is you are going home”.
Judge Dermot Sheehan said Limerick hurling manager John Kiely, who previously appeared before the court as a character witness for Mr Hayes, had asked him to give the star hurler “a chance”.
After reflecting on that, the judge said that “an immediate custodial sentence would not benefit society”.
Mr Hayes showed no emotion when Judge Sheehan told him to “stand up” and hear the sentences.
“The violence shown by Kyle Hayes was significant and dangerous,” the judge said.
Mr Hayes (25), of Ballyashea, Kildimo, County Limerick, denied two violent disorder charges, but was convicted of the charges by a jury, which Judge Sheehan said meant he had to impose a custodial sentence – one he later fully suspended.
The judge imposed an 18-month suspended sentence on Mr Hayes for violent disorder inside the Icon nightclub on the morning of October 28, 2019, and a concurrent two-year suspended sentence for violent disorder outside the nightclub on the same morning.
Mr Hayes was found not guilty by a jury, following his two-week trial last November, of a charge of assault causing harm to Cillian McCarthy, however Judge Sheehan said “none of this would have happened if not for Kyle Hayes”.
Mr McCarthy suffered trauma, underwent surgery for a fractured eye socket, and suffered loss of earnings die to the nature of his injuries.
Judge Sheehan directed Mr Hayes to pay €10,000 in compensation to Cillian McCarthy who Judge Sheehan said was attacked by Mr Hayes and others on the night. The order is without prejudice to any civil proceedings now open to Mr McCarthy, the judge said.
Judge Sheehan said the serious injuries to Mr McCarthy had arisen out of the violence by Mr Hayes and others on the night. Judge Sheehan said Mr McCarthy had been an “innocent” victim on the night.
Kyle Hayes “aggressively” approached Mr McCarthy and his friend Craig Cosgrave inside Smyths Bar, located underneath the nightclub, warning them to “stay the f*ck away” from two young women they were talking to at the bar, one of whom Mr Hayes believed had been seeing a friend of his, the judge said.
Judge Sheehan said while the other man threw the first punch, Mr Hayes was the “instigator” of the violence and that “Kyle Hayes punched Cillian McCarthy continuously in the head” during the violence on the dance door.
After pursuing Mr McCarthy, who was bleeding from his head, outside the club, Kyle Hayes again “aggressively” approached him and told him he would “dig the head off him”.
The judge said Mr Hayes’ “manic response” to Mr McCarthy talking to other people at a nightclub was “extraordinary”. But he believed Mr Hayes was “remorseful”, although no apology was heard in court.
The judge said he accepted Mr Hayes had no previous convictions, was of good character, a good worker, had raised money for charities, and is a “successful sportsman”.
However, the judge said he could “not ignore” that Mr Hayes had “significant culpability” in the events on the violent events on the night.
He added that the violent disorder inside and outside the nightclub were “linked”, and that Kyle Hayes and others acted in a “threatening and menacing” manner when they “followed Cillian McCarthy out of the nightclub”.
Afterwards, Mr Hayes made no comment to waiting journalists, while Mr McCarthy said: “I’m just looking forward to putting it behind me now.”
