An 81-year old farmer told a court today that but for the fact that he was on consecrated ground, he would have been killed instantly when assaulted by a man armed with a slash hook in a graveyard.

Martin O’Shaughnessy of Killina, Gort, pleaded guilty to the assault of John Connolly at the graveyard at Killinny, East Kinvara on October 1 last.

The judge was told the nature of the alleged assault involved the “pushing down onto a bed and the rough handling a child”.