Ankle broken during assault in Laois

A court sitting heard a man was out of work for six months following an assault in Mountmellick last year. 

Desmond Conroy, 58, of 21 Cullenwood, Mountmellick, admitted assaulting a man on Patrick Street in Mountmellick on May 20 last year. 

Garda Sergeant JJ Kirby said the defendant and a co-accused allegedly assaulted the accused who suffered a broken ankle and cuts and bruises to his eyebrow and cheek. 

He said the ankle injury resulted from the injured party “twisting awkwardly” when he fell during the assault.

Solicitor Barry Fitzgerald said his client had a verbal dispute with the injured party in a pub on the evening in question. He said the defendant had consumed a lot of alcohol and “all parties were put out” of the pub. 

He summed up the assault as “a strike and a push” but said his client fully accepts responsibility. 

“My client accepts that he was totally and utterly at fault,” he said.

Mr Fitzgerald said his client would give a commitment to pay compensation  and he asked for some time. 

“He doesn’t strike me as a violent person,” said Mr Fitzgerald.