A prison officer denied at the Special Criminal Court yesterday that he pushed convicted drugs dealer John Gilligan and used abusive language during an incident at Portlaoise Prison last year. Assistant chief officer Mr Martin Ryan denied a suggestion by Gilligan's counsel, Mr Michael O'Higgins SC, that he had insulted Gilligan and pushed him.
Mr Ryan said: "I got a fair box on the jaw that morning from John Gilligan and I didn't get time to think of anything else. I was stunned by that box."
Gilligan has denied assaulting Mr Ryan as he was being escorted to a visit with his solicitor in the prison just 10 days after he was jailed for 28 years for importing large quantities of cannabis resin. Mr Ryan said that after the incident he had gone to the prison surgery and then to Portlaoise Hospital.
Prison officer Mr Declan O'Reilly said after the incident Gilligan told him he would "have him done or killed" on the way home from work.
Gilligan has pleaded not guilty to assaulting and threatening Mr Ryan and to threatening Mr O'Reilly.