Tea and sandwiches in a Co Roscommon kitchen were disrupted by what a judge described as an "outrageous assault" in which the former Minister for Justice, Mr Sean Doherty, was hit on the head by a Roscommon county councillor, and the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, Mr Brian Mullooly, was the victim of obscene abuse, Roosky District Court heard yesterday.
Mr Tom Crosby, a Fianna Fail councillor, was convicted of assaulting Mr Doherty and ordered to pay £500 to Mr Doherty, TD for Longford/Roscommon. He was told if Mr Doherty found that unacceptable the money should go to the court poor box.
Judge William Earley also imposed a sentence of two weeks in prison on Mr Crosby, a local publican and restaurateur who runs an insurance brokerage, but the sentence was suspended for three years.
The trouble began on the night of January 23rd when Mr Crosby arrived at the home of local shopkeeper Mr Fergal McGuinness during a private meeting attended by the former Minister and Mr Mullooly. Mr Crosby said he knew there was something going on in Termonbarry "because I saw Sean Doherty's car and Brian Mullooly's chauffeur-driven car, with the chauffeur in it."
Mr Crosby's solicitor Mr Leo Brannigan said that, as others at the meeting were members of the Termonbarry Development Association, of which his client was a founding member, Mr Crosby felt he was entitled to attend. Mr McGuinness said Mr Crosby arrived at the door and barged in, saying: " I want to know what's going on in my village". He went into the kitchen, where Mrs McGuinness was making tea and sandwiches, and he called Mr Mullooley "words like `bastard' and `fucker'," Mr McGuinness recalled. When Mr Doherty stood to leave, the councillor "lunged at him, hit him on the back with his right forearm and struck him with his left fist in the back of the head". Mr Doherty then hit his head off part of the doorway, Mr McGuinness said. Mr Crosby was restrained on the kitchen floor, "practically incoherent and literally foaming at the mouth with rage," Mr McGuinness told the court.
Mr Brannigan said his client was aggravated because he felt Mr Mullooly and Mr Doherty intended to ruin him politically by trying to drive a wedge between him and his local community. "The charge is one of assault and not an investigation into the machinations of local politics," the judge said.
Mr Doherty denied Mr Crosby's claim that he had pushed into the councillor as he was leaving, whispering "I'll nail you for this."