Hospital porter’s arm injured in fracas

A hospital porter who came to the assistance of his colleagues dealing with a fracas held down one of the men who tossed him onto the floor, injuring his arm.

Patrick Kavanagh, aged 29, of 12 Nursery Drive, Ardfallen Rd, Ballinlough, Cork, had the case against him listed for trial yesterday at Cork District Court but he failed to appear.

After hearing the prosecution evidence in his absence, Judge Olann Kelleher found Kavanagh guilty on the charge of assaulting hospital porter JJ Cronin on March 2, 2014. The judge issued a bench warrant for Kavanagh following his conviction.

Mr Cronin said he was working at Mercy University Hospital on that date when his emergency pager signalled a security alert at the emergency unit.

“There was a fight going on and this chap was being restrained on the ground. I am a porter. I responded to help the lads restrain him.

“I took over restraining this fella, he started to get up and get a bit aggressive. I told him I was only there to keep him calm. He said, ‘my brother, my brother’. He said, ‘get off’ and he tossed me and I landed down on my left side. I damaged the ulna nerve in my arm, it gives me pain all the time. I was out of work for three weeks,” Mr Cronin testified.

Garda Patricia Devine said she arrived on the scene at 2.45am after being alerted to a fight outside the hospital involving a number of people. She approached Kavanagh and found he had a bit of drink taken and was arguing with people.