Three years jail for Heineken bottle assault

Three years jail for Heineken bottle assault in Belmullet


Áine Ryan

A BELMULLET man, with a serious and chronic alcohol problem, was jailed last week for a ‘vicious’ assault with a bottle in the Broadhaven Bay Hotel on August 15, 2006.
Thirty-four-year old Thomas Cawley of Tallagh, Belmullet, suffered from serious alcohol dependence and underlying mental health issues, according to his counsel, Ms Ann Marie Courell.
He was now addressing these issues by attending AA meetings and engaging with an Addiction Counsellor in prison, she said at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court last week.
Judge Raymond Groarke observed that Mr Cawley had been convicted by a jury of the assault on AJ Deane, after a fully contested hearing. While this was his entitlement, the judge said he was concerned that Mr Cawley ‘was not greatly sorry’ and that he may have an attitude that Mr Deane ‘got what he deserved’.
“It is a sad day for your family. I’m not saying Mr Deane’s behaviour was impeccable but you purposefully applied a broken bottle repeatedly to Mr Deane and he now has both physical and psychological injuries. You behaved in a cowardly fashion and it was pretty vicious,” Judge Groarke said.
The judge said that an offer of €1,000 by way of compensation to Mr Deane added ‘insult to injury.
“Mr Deane, if he so wishes can take proceedings in the civil courts regarding compensation,” he said.
Noting that Mr Cawley had been before the courts on a number of occasions since 2000, and had been convicted in the last week of an assault on a foreign trader, the judge observed  that the consequences of his actions must be imprisonment.
“You are a mess. A pure and simple mess. Apparently, I am told, you have a young woman willing to marry you. God knows what life she has led,” he said.
Judge Groarke imposed a three-year prison term, consecutive to the one presently being served. Suspending the last year, he ordered that Mr Cawley abstain from alcohol and undergo residential treatment, while under the supervision of the Probation Services for 18 months after his release.

Background
AT the original hearing, Garda Aidan Gill explained that on August 28, 2006, Thomas Cawley hit Mr AJ Deane over the head with a Heineken bottle. The assault resulted in Mr Deane receiving plastic surgery in Galway and eight stitches to a wound above his eyebrow and 12 on his nose. The court was told that these scars would be permanent and were still visible.
Garda Gill said that Mr Cawley had a number of previous convictions and had served a three-month prison sentence in 2004 for a public order offence.
The garda also revealed  that an altercation had occurred between his young cousin, Kenneth Cawley, and Mr Deane and the defendant  had intervened.
Ms Courell said her client was living in the Belmullet area with his fiancee after returning from England where he had worked as a joiner. She said that while he had a serious problem with alcohol, he was willing to address it. She added that his fiancee had a positive influence on him.