Former Clare hurler Niall Gilligan found not guilty by majority in assault trial

The former All-Star and All-Ireland winning hurler was accused of assault causing harm to the then 12-year-old boy

Niall Gilligan sat impassive in the court as the court registrar read out the not guilty verdicts in the case concerning the assault causing harm charge and use of a stick.

A jury has found former All-Star and Clare All-Ireland winning hurler, Niall Gilligan, not guilty of assaulting a then 12-year-old boy with a stick almost two years ago.

At Ennis Circuit Court on Wednesday, the jury of seven men and five women delivered a majority 'not guilty' verdict against the charge that Mr Gilligan, aged 48, of Rossroe, Kilmurry, Sixmilebridge, had assaulted causing harm to the boy with a stick at the Jamaica Inn Hostel, Sixmilebridge on October 5, 2023.

Mr Gilligan sat impassively in the court as the court registrar read out the ‘not guilty’ majority verdicts in the case concerning the assault causing harm charge and producing a stick under Section 11 of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act at the same location on the same date.

Two women in the Gilligan family group seated at the back of the court to support Mr Gilligan wept as the verdicts were called out while the parents of the then 12-year-old sitting on the opposite side of the court left the courtroom shortly after the verdicts were announced.

The jury delivered their majority 'not guilty' verdict after five hours and three minutes of deliberations and returned to the court 48 minutes after Judge Francis Comerford directed shortly after midday on Wednesday that they could deliver a majority 11-1 or 10-2 verdict.

Shortly before 1pm, the foreman replied "yes" when asked by the court registrar had at least 10 of the jury reached a verdict in the case. The jury reached their verdicts after five days of evidence, closing speeches by lawyers from both sides and the judge's charge in the case.

Judge Comerford thanked the jury “for the careful deliberations you have taken”. Mr Gilligan spoke briefly with his legal team of solicitor, Daragh Hassett, and Patrick Whyms BL in the body of the court before leaving the courtroom.

A farmer and auctioneer in Sixmilebridge, Mr Gilligan was not on legal aid for the case and will have to pay his legal bill from the six-day long trial from his own resources.

In his closing speech to the jury, counsel for Mr Gilligan, Mr Whyms said on the evening at the Jamaica Inn hostel, Mr Gilligan “didn’t know that he was dealing with a child and did not create this situation”.

Mr Whyms said that Mr Gilligan "was at the end of his tether" due to the vandalism being done to a vacant property he was trying to sell.

Putting forward the defence of reasonable force against the charge of assault causing harm, Mr Whyms said that Mr Gilligan was at the Jamaica Inn hostel on the night of October 5 “in the dark and believed that he was under siege”.

Believing himself under threat and needing to protect himself and his property, Niall Gilligan needs to make an instant decision and so we are here.

“And Mr Gilligan, a family man who has young children and no previous convictions, gives a clear story which hasn’t changed and an entirely credible, fulsome account of what happened."

Mr Whyms said to the jury: “Did Niall Gilligan use such force as was reasonable in the circumstances as he believed them to be and if he did then no offence was committed.” 

In his prepared statement at Shannon Garda Station in February 2024 on the alleged assault, Mr Whyms said that Mr Gilligan “has given a perfectly plausible account in an otherwise impeccably accurate description of what occurred which placed the boys inside the building when he met them”.

On the medical evidence, Mr Whyms said: “Nobody wants to see a child being injured and it would be much better if that didn’t happen, and the boy was injured in this case. 

There doesn’t seem to be much room for argument that he was injured from the actions of Niall Gilligan. 

Mr Whyms said that an undisplaced fracture of a finger on the boy’s left hand “is the only fracture in this case”. “There is an undisplaced fracture of a finger - that is not a good thing to happen but that it is what happened. 

“There were injuries and these were sustained in the incident, but by and large most were cleared up in the week and the last one was pretty well cleared up in two weeks."

Mr Whyms said that the injuries “don’t look nice on the photographs - there is no getting away from that and injuries that are photographed immediately after don't look nice”. He said that the injuries sustained by the boy “are clearly regrettable”.