Taxi driver attacked after testifying against neighbour in criminal damage case, court hears

A taxi and minibus operator was attacked and beaten in his home by a group of men after he gave evidence in a case against a neighbour who was charged with criminal damage, the High Court has heard.

Paul Coleman (60), of Fatima Park, Dundalk, Co Louth, sued coal delivery man Gerard Mulligan, who lived two doors down from Mr Coleman, as well as Stephen McMahon, with an address at Garrybawn, Tom Bellew Avenue, Dundalk.

Both were among a large group of men who attacked the Coleman home on January 25th, 2015, the court heard.

Mr Mulligan, who currently lives at School Road, Killeen, Co Down, is awaiting sentencing over the incident having been convicted following a trial in Dundalk Circuit Court, John Kerr BL, instructed by McGuill and Co solicitors, for Mr Coleman, told the High Court on Thursday.

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Mr McMahon is due to stand trial on an assault charge in January.

Judgment in default of a defence has already been obtained in the High Court against both defendants.

On Thursday, Mr Justice Micheál P O’Higgins was asked to assess damages when there was still no appearance from the defendants.

Following evidence for Mr Coleman, the judge adjourned his decision until the end of the month to allow for a submission on what the quantum of damages should be.

Mr Coleman is claiming damages for assault, battery, intentional trespass and infliction of emotional stress and anxiety. He told the court there was an incident in 2013 when Mr Coleman’s next door neighbour’s fence was damaged by Mr Mulligan and his brother. Mr Coleman later gave evidence in a criminal damage court case over that incident.

As a result, Mr Coleman said, Mr Mulligan made threats to “put me in a body bag”.

A further incident occurred in which a sofa was set alight at the door of the garage at the rear of Mr Coleman’s home. He said he put the fire out and later found an electricity bill addressed to Gerard Mulligan down the side of the sofa that had not burned.

Mr Coleman, at the suggestion of gardaí, put up CCTV at the rear of his house, where he also kept vehicles for his taxi and mini-bus hire business. The camera was knocked down from its position on the night of January 24th, 2015, but Mr Coleman put it up again the next day.

On January 25th, he said, he saw Mr Mulligan and another man at the back of his garage. He went out to see what was going on and Mr Mulligan started shouting abuse at him and asking “if the gardaí had had access to the camera and even if they did it would not help you”.

Mr Coleman’s son came out at this stage and then he said five other males came running down the rear laneway to his garage.

They also started shouting abuse and “calling us informers” and then more vehicles arrived with a number of young men inside, he said.

There followed a violent altercation with the group in which Mr Coleman was struck with what he said was a machete-like metal bar by Mr Mulligan on the top of his head, the court heard.

A short time later, as he and his son tried to close their garage door against the attackers, Mr McMahon lunged at him with a scaffold pole and struck him in the middle of the forehead, knocking him out, he said. A boyfriend of his niece who had arrived had his finger and hand cut during the incident, he said.

His wife put him and the niece’s boyfriend into her car to take them to hospital but after driving a short distance from her home, she found two parked ambulances which were waiting as they were apparently unsure whether it was safe to go into the estate at that stage, he said. Gardaí had also arrived.

Mr Coleman said an MRI scan showed his skull was fractured from his forehead down to his eye socket and a bone fragment in his skull had become separated. It was later considered by specialists that it was safer to leave the fragment there rather than do surgery at that stage.

He said he was unable to work as a driver for eight weeks and his ability to work was severely curtailed afterwards. To this day continues to have headaches and neck pain due to his injuries. His wife had taken over the running of his business.