A Co Tipperary farmer suffered a fractured cheek bone after he was struck three times by another farmer with a stick in an alleged dispute over a field, a court has heard.
John Burke (49), of Duncummin House, Emly, Co Tipperary, and formerly of Scairt, Ballysimon, Co Limerick, denies assaulting John Foley causing him harm on April 22nd, 2004.
A jury at Limerick Circuit Court heard evidence from Mr Foley yesterday, who said Mr Burke hit him three times with a stick, striking him once on the leg, once on the back and once on the side of his face.
Mr Foley said the assault happened after he approached Mr Burke to ask him whether he had put his cattle into his field.
The court heard that Mr Foley had taken over the grazing of a field located beside Mr Burke's farm in Scairt a month before the alleged assault.
Counsel for the State, John O'Sullivan, told the jury that Mr Burke had used the field prior to Mr Foley letting it, and there "may well have been a certain amount of resentment" from Mr Burke concerning the six-acre site.
Mr Foley told the court that when he went to check his field shortly after 8.20pm on the evening of April 22nd, 2004, he noticed about 20 cattle in the field that were not his.
The court heard that before arriving at the field Mr Foley had passed the defendant who was driving a cattle lorry away from the field.
"I thought after meeting Mr Burke on the road that they were his cattle, so I turned around and followed him up the road as I wanted to ask him if they were his cattle and what the story was," said Mr Foley.
The court heard that Mr Foley parked his four-wheel drive vehicle ahead of Mr Burke's cattle lorry, and when he got out to talk to him Mr Burke took out a stick and hit him three times.
Mr Foley said no words were spoken between the two men, but Mr Burke said "you own no field" when he drove away.
Mr Foley said he was "badly shaken" after the incident, and he had blood all over his face.
The court heard that Mr Foley was driven to Limerick Regional Hospital after the incident, where a doctor told him he had fractured his right cheek bone.
The trial continues today before Judge Carroll Moran.