Born-again Christian hit with samurai sword

A born-again Christian watching a TV documentary on snakes answered a knock at his door only to be headbutted and struck with a samurai sword.

Jeremiah Condon, aged 60, of 99 Roche’s Buildings, Cork, accused his neighbour, David Cotter, aged 47, of 100 Roche’s Buildings, of arriving at his front door with a man armed with a samurai sword and headbutting him. Cotter accused Mr Condon of hitting him in the head with a golf putter.

Judge Olann Kelleher dismissed two charges against Mr Condon of engaging in an affray and producing a weapon, namely the putter.

The judge convicted Cotter of assaulting Mr Condon and fined him €300. He dismissed the charge against Cotter of engaging in an affray.

The judge bound both neighbours to the peace for a year over the disputed incident on Dec 10, 2012.

During his evidence, Mr Condon said: “I am a law-abiding citizen. I am a born-again Christian. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke. My main thing is the bible and watching telly.”

He said he recalled exactly what he was watching that night — a Discovery Channel documentary on snakes.

He said Cotter headbutted him when he answered the door and a second man, not before the court, jumped out from behind a wheelie bin with a samurai sword and struck him in the side.

Mr Condon said: “I did hit him with the golf club, I am not denying that, but I was in my house.”

Judge Kelleher was told that Mr Condon had given evidence in a case related to Cotter about a year earlier, and about an incident in a pub about 20 years ago, and that both these issues were in the background to what occurred on Dec 10, 2012.