Assault claim in bouncy castle row

A bouncy castle supplier who was collecting one from a Communion party claimed the man hiring it insisted it had not worked properly and ended up assaulting him by catching him by the neck at the height of a dispute.

Michael McCarthy of Cork Bouncy Castles testified at Cork District Court yesterday that he was assaulted by Conor Flanagan outside his home at 10 Glenheights Place, Dublin Hill, Cork.

Judge Olann Kelleher found the prosecution facts proven in the case but having done so, he gave Flanagan, aged 35, the benefit of a dismissal under the Probation of Offenders Act.

Mr McCarthy said he could not see anything wrong with the bouncy castle beforehand or afterwards or when he arrived that Saturday at 8pm to collect it after the children’s party. He said some of the adults were giving him grief about it not having worked properly.

“Mr Flanagan wanted his money back. He kicked the side of the van. He ran at me. He had his hands on my throat, I was up against the wall. He was shouting that he wanted his money back, I just wanted to get out of there and get away from the house,” Mr McCarthy said.

Solicitor, Frank Buttimer, suggested that Mr McCarthy saying to Mr Flanagan’s wife that he felt sorry for her, was an unpleasant and cutting thing to say. He also suggested that Mr McCarthy called someone a moron or a retard for not being able to get the bouncy castle to function properly. Mr McCarthy denied the latter comment.

Conor Flanagan said that he never asked for his money back but that Mr McCarthy got furious and shouted, “it’s impossible,” when he was told that the castle had not worked properly and had been falling down during the afternoon.

The defendant said he got into a heated verbal dispute with Mr McCarthy because his wife had been upset by Mr McCarthy. “I never caught him by the throat, I never caught him by anything, we had a verbal argument, that was it basically. And I did not kick his van. There was no physical contact whatsoever.”