SIX PEOPLE including an American tourist were beaten, kicked and punched in separate attacks by a gang of drunken men following a St Patrick’s Day parade, a court heard yesterday.
James Faul from St Louis, Missouri, told Clonmel Circuit Court how he was attacked from behind by a gang of men while visiting Tipperary town with his wife on March 17th this year.
The court heard how Mr Faul was punched and beaten after he stepped out of a shop in the town and was then kicked in the face as he lay on the ground.
Mr Faul told Judge Thomas Teehan he received a broken nose, a fracture to the bone around his left eye requiring the insertion of a titanium plate and that suffered continuous double vision as a result of the attack.
Mr Faul travelled from his home in Missouri to give evidence to the court yesterday.
Brothers Ned Delaney (22) and Dan Delaney (18), Carrowclough, Tipperary, and Patrick O’Keeffe (19), St Ailbe’s Drive, Tipperary, appeared before the court in relation to serious assaults in the town.
Sgt John Keane of Tipperary Garda station told the court the three were part of a gang of men who “were drinking all day” and who unleashed “untold fear amongst the decent citizens of Tipperary”.
Sgt Keane said the men had engaged in a series of “unprovoked and “random” attacks on members of the public and that street signs were used as weapons to attack their victims.
The Delaney brothers each pleaded guilty to four counts of assault and to violent disorder in the town on the day in question. O’Keeffe pleaded guilty to one count of assault and to violent disorder.
The three men also attacked James Griffin (46), as he left the Kickham House pub with his partner at 5.58pm that day.
Sgt Keane said Mr Griffin was knocked to the ground, punched repeatedly and kicked about 10 times and that the assault was captured on CCTV camera.
Ned Delaney used a sign he picked up outside an off-licence to strike Frank Spillane (53) across the back of the head.
Another man, Francis Butler (60), was also struck on the head with an ice cream sign by Dan Delaney.
Sgt Keane said another man, John Cleary (68), was struck in the face by Ned Delaney as he smoked a cigarette outside a pub and suffered a fractured jaw.
Judge Teehan remanded the three men in custody to the next session of the court in February
The case against a fourth man John Paul Delaney (18), Abbey Street, Cahir, in relation to similar assaults in the town on the day, was previously adjourned to next February.