Teen and uncle guilty of assault with hockey sticks

A teenager and his uncle were convicted yesterday of clobbering a man over the head with hockey sticks after he had driven into a suburban cul de sac hoping to find a bit of gardening work.

Judge Olann Kelleher said that, after hearing a couple of hours of evidence on Wednesday and more yesterday, he had no hesitation convicting John O’Sullivan Jnr, 18, of 11 Willow Park, Douglas, Cork, and his uncle, John O’Sullivan Snr, 29, of 48 Castletreasure Grove, Donnybrook Hill, Cork, on the charge of assault causing harm.

John O’Sullivan Jnr claimed that he was not there at all that morning and said he was at his grandmother’s house from about 9am until lunchtime. His grandmother corroborated this evidence.

Insp Michael McGuire asked him how he knew he was there that morning of all mornings. He replied: “I go there every morning of my life from 9 until lunchtime. Every morning I go there.”

Sentencing of the teenager was put back for two months to allow time for a probation report.

O’Sullivan Snr’s family gasped loudly and burst into tears as he was sentenced to four months in jail for the assault.

O’Sullivan Snr lodged €500 bail to appeal the sentence.

The judge said he was satisfied with the evidence of the injured party, Anthony Loveridge of 15 Shalom, The Commons, Fairhill, Cork, who said John O’Sullivan Jnr got out and “he started swinging a hockey stick at me. He hit me on the head with it. That is when he opened my head up.”

Mr Loveridge said he managed to wrestle the hockey stick from him. “His uncle, John O’Sullivan, hit me on the far side of the head with another hockey stick.”

He said later he was afraid he was going to be knocked down by the Transit van. “They made a go to run me over.”