West Cork man assaulted brother-in-law over right-of-way issues, court told

The judge at Skibbereen courthouse convicted the defendant of assault and sentenced him to four months in prison suspended for 18 months on condition he be of good behaviour. File picture: Dan Linehan

Ongoing issues over a right of way led to a West Cork man assaulting his brother-in-law, the district court has heard.

Sergeant Tom Mulcahy told Skibbereen District Court that an incident occurred at Knockmore, Drinagh, Co. Cork, at 11.30am on January 26, 2025. 

The court was told that Mark Hegarty, aged 41, of Knockmore, Drinagh, Co. Cork, assaulted his brother-in-law Seamus Collins while Mr Collins was feeding his cattle.

The court was told that Hegarty was shouting at Mr Collins and “squared up” to him before pushing his forehead against Mr Collin’s head, making contact. 

The court was told that there had been “ongoing issues” between the men who live near each other over a shared right of way that provided access to Mr Collins’ farm.

Defence solicitor Liam O’Donovan said his client had volunteered CCTV footage of the incident to gardaí and alleged that Mr Collins had damaged a child’s buggy when bringing silage in through the shared right of way and had also allegedly spilled some of the silage. 

Mr O’Donovan said he had encouraged the two men to engage in mediation to resolve their issues over the right of way which Hegarty was committed to doing.

The court was told that Hegarty, who is the father of eight children and works on a mussel farm, had 12 previous convictions dating back to 2006 related to an incident of forgery but had not come to garda attention since.

Judge Joanne Carroll said Hegarty could not take the law into his own hands and that there were legal solutions open to him to deal with the right of way issue. 

She convicted Hegarty of assault and sentenced him to four months in prison suspended for 18 months on condition he be of good behaviour. Recognisance for appeal was fixed at €100 cash.

Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme