Suspended sentences for ‘revenge mission’ duo

FIVE men armed with golf clubs and sticks arrived in a Cork harbour village on a Sunday afternoon on a “revenge mission”, a court heard yesterday.

The men, seeking revenge for an attack the previous night, “squared up” to pub patrons in Crosshaven before gardaí arrived.

Three of the men had been dealt with previously by the courts. Yesterday, the remaining two were given suspended jail sentences at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Judge Patrick J Moran previously put back the cases against the remaining two until yesterday to see how they would behave.

“They both seem to have behaved themselves in the manner that I wished they would. In that sense they have honoured their commitment to this court,” he said.

Suspended one-year jail sentences were imposed on Tony Danza, 20, of 9 Beech Court, Carrigaline, who pleaded guilty to assault causing harm and having an implement, and Jason Convery, 22, of 5 Liosbourne, Carrigaline, who admitted having an implement. The three co-accused had got similar sentences.

Sergeant Gerard O’Mahony reminded Judge Moran yesterday that the five men were at a house party in Carrigaline on the Saturday night. They had been drinking heavily throughout the night and continued into Sunday morning.

He said there had been an assault on two of them the previous night and the five accused were looking for unknown individuals who assaulted them.

They went to a pub, Johnny’s Return. Tony Danza struck the son of the licensee, Denis Midleton, twice in what the sergeant said was a case of mistaken identity. Others with Danza had golf clubs and a curtain pole.

Sgt O’Mahony said the five defendants and the patrons of the pub squared up to each other outside before gardaí arrived on the night of November 2, 2008.