Boxer who assaulted Kevin Lunney and threw boiling water over Quinn colleague has appeal dismissed

Kevin Lunney suffered a broken nose and potentially life-lasting damage to his eye as a result of the February 2019 attack, which began when James Bernard McGovern approached the two men with a cup of boiling water in his hand at a service station in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan

In March, James Bernard McGovern, 24, had pleaded guilty to a Section 3 assault against Mr Lunney by repeatedly punching him at the Apple Green Service Station, near Ballyconnell, Co Cavan.

The fists of a boxer who “rained blows down on” senior businessman Kevin Lunney would be regarded as “lethal weapons” in other countries, a senior judge said on Monday.

The President of the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice George Birmingham, was commenting as an appeal from James Bernard McGovern, 24, who was jailed for three years and three months for attacking Mr Lunney and his Quinn Industrial Holdings colleague Dara O’Reilly, was dismissed.