Leading lawyer assaulted legal rival

A judge has found that leading criminal lawyer John Devane had assaulted solicitor John Herbert at Limerick District Court.

Judge Patrick Clyne said he would exercise his discretion and dismiss the case on its merits, avoiding a conviction, if Mr Devane donated €1,000 to St Vincent de Paul by Oct 18.

Judge Clyne said it was a sad day for the court in Limerick, but he was happy that the State had proven its case on a section 2 assault by Mr Devane, aged 49, of Quinlan St, Limerick.

State solicitor for Cork north east, Frank Nyhan, who prosecuted, said the State was not wishing to make the case anything other than a minor assault.

The court heard the assault followed another incident involving both solicitors at Limerick courthouse on May 25, 2011, which led to Mr Devane being cleared of an assault on Mr Herbert at Limerick District Court last Thursday.

The incident in May which led to last week’s case arose amid claims of client-poaching.

In evidence yesterday, Mr Herbert recalled that on Jun 9, 2011, he was standing at the back of the courtroom when Mr Devane approached asking him to “forget what happened last week”.

Mr Herbert said he dismissed the suggestion to forget about what had previously occurred. At that Mr Devane threatened him with the words: “I will have you done. I will see to it.”

Mr Devane asked him to come outside the courtroom door. Standing in the hallway, he purposely kept his hands in his pocket as Mr Devane spoke at him. Mr Devane then tried to headbutt him, but it did not land. Mr Devane then caught him by the throat.

Mr Herbert said he walked away back into the courtroom. Mr Devane, he said, went to gardaí in the court building and complained that he (Herbert) had assaulted him.

Cross-examined by Keith Spencer, BL for the defence, Mr Herbert said he took the threat as a threat on his life.

He rejected Mr Devane’s offer to forget what had happened previously as he did not believe it was made in earnest.

He denied telling Mr Devane “go fuck yourself” when rejecting his approach and took his threat at face value as a threat to his life.

In evidence Mr Devane said he had never threatened Mr Herbert’s life or anybody else’s life and when he learned of the allegation he was absolutely shocked. He said relationships were not good between them.

He said a dispute two weeks previously when he said Mr Herbert grabbed him by the throat led to events of Jun 9.

As he left the courtroom on Jun 9, he put his hand out to Mr Herbert, in a gesture to forget and get on with their lives, but said Mr Herbert told him “go fuck yourself”.

He asked Mr Herbert to come out and talk, and as he did so, Mr Herbert pushed him through the door. This was an assault and put him in fear. He thought he could resolve matters with Mr Herbert, but alleged he was a “well-known bully” and was afraid of him.