A Co Clare man has admitted assault after headbutting a father at a GAA ground.
Judge Alec Gabbett told Killaloe District Court that Maurice Crotty (43) “sees red and takes off – that is the problem”.
He said the background to the assault at Smith O’Brien’s GAA club by Crotty on Aidan Fleming was “over an issue over a football at the local school and an email exchange”.
Tara Godfrey, defending, said “there was also tensions over a WhatsApp group and contributions made”.
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Crotty admitted assaulting Mr Fleming on May 29th last year in Killaloe, east Clare.
The judge said he was minded to impose a three-month prison term on Crotty “and whether I suspend that is the question”.
However, Ms Godfrey successfully applied for the case to be adjourned for Crotty to be under the direction of the probation service and complete whatever courses it deemed suitable, including anger management.
“This was a once-in-a-lifetime act of aggression and there has been no incident since,” she told the court, sitting in Ennis, on Tuesday.
When the case was first before the court last month, the judge was told Mr Fleming was a GAA coach.
After reading his victim impact statement, the judge said the man was not a GAA coach “and he says that himself here”.
Judge Gabbett said on the day of the assault, Crotty went to Mr Fleming’s house, but was told Mr Fleming was at the local GAA grounds.
The judge said Crotty went to the pitch, called out Mr Fleming and then headbutted him.
Mr Fleming, in his victim impact statement, said he had never met Crotty before. He suffered reputational damage when he was assaulted in front of parents and children, he said.
In the statement, he said having to explain an unprovoked assault to children was something he never thought he would have to do.
Judge Gabbett said the assault had left Mr Fleming with emotional scars.
“This was not a slap. It is a headbutt and is at the higher end of a section two assault charge,” he said, referring to the offence of assault under section two of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997.
The judge said his difficulty in the case was that the probation report found Crotty was at moderate risk of reoffending.
He said the report stated Crotty downplayed the fact the assault occurred in front of small children at a training session.
In response, Ms Godfrey said the assault “didn’t occur in front of small children anywhere”.
She said there was a narrative to the assault “and this was not a situation where Mr Crotty picked out a random person and decided to visit an assault on him”.
She said it was her client’s case that Mr Fleming had, in an email to a school principal, defamed someone close to Crotty when incorrectly claiming the person had stolen a football.
Ms Godfrey said Crotty was ashamed of his actions and had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
She said he worked in security and if there was a conviction then he would lose his job. She said he was the sole breadwinner and it would be a devastating blow to his family.
Ms Godfrey said her client would be disproportionately punished if he was criminalised.
Judge Gabbett said he was conscious of Mr Fleming’s victim impact statement and he adjourned the case to December 2nd to allow Crotty, of Millstream, Killaloe, Co Clare, to complete whatever courses the probation services decided he should.
