A MAN has been sentenced to two years in prison for biting the ear off a man in a chip shop in Bunbeg, Co Donegal, leaving him severely disfigured. Shaun McGee, Lower Dunmore, Falcarragh, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Maurice McGeehan, Millside, Fintown, and was sentenced at Letterkenny Circuit Court.
Sgt Michael Carroll told Judge John O’Hagan that shortly after 4am on January 2nd last year, he was on patrol in the Magheraclogher area of Bunbeg.
A disco had just finished and there were a number of patrons outside the Gréim Gasta chip shop.
He was alerted to an altercation in the chip shop by Garda Malcolm McGee and when he went to investigate, he found McGee on top of Mr McGeehan, on the floor, with his ear in his mouth.
McGee was arrested.
Sgt Carroll told the court: “A lady in the chip shop had put the ear in a bag of frozen peas. I was handed the bag and took the injured party to the doctor.”
Judge O’Hagan asked Sgt Carroll how Mr McGeehan had lost his ear. “It was chewed off the side of his head,” he replied. The judge asked if it had been possible to reattach the ear and was told it was sewn on to his abdomen and regrown.
Peter Nolan, for McGee, said Mr McGeehan underwent an eight-hour operation six weeks ago to have the ear sewn on to the side of his head but it is “drastically deformed”. Mr McGeehan also suffers from tinnitus, a ringing in his ears.
The court heard that Mr McGeehan was a “totally innocent party” and intervened to stop a row between the defendant and another party. Sgt Carroll said: “It is unusual to see an innocent bystander so badly injured.” He added: “ Mr McGeehan is a man of impeccable character and is a well-trained and highly qualified chef.”
McGee, the court heard, is unemployed but had been engaged in work from time to time on the family farm and in construction.
Judge O’Hagan also noted the medical report from Dr Clifford Haley, consultant psychiatrist at Letterkenny General Hospital.
It stated McGee suffered from “post-traumatic stress disorder with . . . anxiety and depression”. It continued: “One feature of post-traumatic stress disorder is over arousal, making him hyper-vigilant and prone to over-reaction.”
McGee’s mental problems would make him deal with a perceived threat with “excessive reactionary violence” over which he would have little control. His condition would not substantially impair his mental capacity and he would have “full understanding of the consequences of his actions”.