Men banned from bars after attacking publican

Three men remanded in custody since last week for attacking a Midleton publican have been banned by the sentencing judge from all pubs in the Midleton and Ballinacurra area.

“They are prohibited from being in any public house or bar in Midleton or Ballinacurra. If you are seen buying a bottle of orange or having a coffee on a morning you will be back here,” Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

The judge reminded the trio of the effect they had on the publican, who gave evidence in court last week. “He is inside trying to run a bar and you come in there and kick him around the place,” the judge said to them.

Each of the three choked back tears and apologised yesterday for what they had done. Asked what the week in Cork prison was like, 18-year-old Dylan Carroll of 7, Beechwood Court, Midleton, said: “horrible”.

Carroll and Christopher Cotter, 21, with addresses at Cois na hAbhainn, Cloyne, Co Cork, and Broomfield, Midleton, were released from jail and remanded on bail for a year to put their minds to gathering more compensation for the publican. They are banned from all pubs in the area until then.

Ryan Crowley of 3, Elm Grove, Midleton, was described by the judge as the instigator and he wanted Crowley back in court in July with more compensation. He is banned from the pubs in the area at least until then.

Between them they have gathered just over €6,000 so far. They all pleaded guilty to charges of assault causing harm to Donal Sinclair and engaging in a violent disorder.

The publican who thought the pub store- room was about to be robbed by the three chased after them but they turned on him and gave him “a merciless beating”, where he lost teeth and had a collapsed lung on October 29, 2012.