Prisoner admits punching governor in the face

A man admitted in court on Tuesday that he repeatedly punched the governor of Cloverhill Prison during a vicious assault.

Brendan Cummins (22) of Lios Dubh, Armagh Road, Dundalk, Co Louth, pleaded guilty to assaulting governor Ronan Maher at Cloverhill Prison on February 20th last.

Defence solicitor Declan Fahy told Judge Kathryn Hutton at Cloverhill District Court that his client was pleading guilty to the charge.

Det Sgt Seán Cosgrove told the court that the governor had gone to D-wing’s yard to speak to a prisoner. The accused started shouting at him and punched him in the face three times, the court was told.

Courtroom security was heightened for the proceedings on Tuesday. The accused was flanked by four prison officers in full riot gear, holding shields during the hearing.

Judge Hutton said she would ask for his previous convictions to be given at a later stage and said she would have to put the case back to another date to allow Mr Maher be notified of the guilty plea.

The court heard the case may have to be adjourned for a week.

At that point Cummins, who remains in custody, interjected loudly: “I will not be coming back to court in a week, deal with it now.”

His solicitor said his “client was anxious to have his case dealt with now”.

Judge Hutton said the case would resume on Thursday.