Wedding guest attacked best man for kissing his wife, court hears

A guest at a Co Kerry wedding pursued and seriously injured the best man with a wine bottle after seeing him kissing his wife, the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee has heard.

Richard Eso (47) has pleaded guilty to causing serious harm to Jonathan Aherne on April 11th, 2015, at Cahernane House Hotel, Muckross Road, Killarney, his sentencing hearing was told on Tuesday.

Mr Eso has also pleaded guilty to producing a weapon, namely a bottle.

Mr Eso, a Nigerian citizen with an address at Geraldine Road in London, England, and his wife Rachel were guests at the wedding in April 2015, the court heard.

Tom Rice, prosecuting, said the wedding reception at the Killarney hotel went on into the early hours.

He said the guests were in the residents’ bar when “the accused’s wife started to kiss the best man, Mr Aherne”.

Garda Michael Milner told the court Mr Eso became "extremely angry and upset when he saw this and there followed violent scenes".

Initially, the violence was directed towards Mr Eso’s wife, Rachel, who was with him in court on Tuesday.

However, Mr Eso then obtained a wine bottle, broke it and pursued Mr Aherne into the bar’s kitchen area.

The court heard Mr Eso inflicted significant injuries to Mr Aherne’s face and forehead.

A night porter witnessed the incident and was able to give gardaí clear details.

“Mr Aherne was totally blameless,” Mr Milner said.

Mr Aherne was treated in hospital for deep lacerations to his forehead and injuries to his cheek.

‘Permanent scars’

The presiding judge, Judge John Hannon, viewed his scars, which the court was told would be permanent.

Mr Rice said what had happened was “disfigurement” and that it came within the definition of serious harm.

He said the Director of Public Prosecutions had assessed "the headline sentence to be between four and seven-and-a-half years, before mitigating factors".

Mr Eso’s wife was also injured in the incident, but not seriously.

Mr Milner told the court that Mr Aherne, originally from Cork, was happy to move on with his life as soon as an offer of compensation was paid over. He did not want Mr Eso to go to jail .

Mr Milner agreed with Anthony Sammon SC, for Mr Eso , that the accused had been extremely contrite and was most co-operative during the investigation.

Mr Sammon said his client was “deeply devoted” to his wife and that when she approached Mr Aherne and kissed him, Mr Eso “lost it” and “the green-eyed monster” kicked in.

“He did what he did in an inebriated and jealous state,” Mr Sammon said.

Mr Eso has no previous convictions in Britain or Ireland.

The judge adjourned sentencing, saying the matter was serious and it had some unusual features. A date is to be fixed next week.