Mayo man thought he would die during slashing

A BALLYHAUNIS man who had his face slashed from his ear to his throat by a man he had been drinking with was very fortunate to escape with his life, a court heard.

Eddie Cleary (24) of Headford Road, Galway appeared before Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court where he was sentenced to three years imprisonment after pleading guilty to assault causing harm to Richard Ryan in Ballyhaunis on February 10, 2020.

The court heard that the men had been drinking all day together in the town when Mr Cleary knocked Mr Ryan to the ground in an unprovoked attack close to Barrack Street.

During the assault, Mr Ryan (32) was cut from his ear to his throat while Mr Cleary shouted 'die you bastard die'.

Medical evidence which was presented in the sentencing hearing before Judge Eoin Garavan stated that had the cut been slightly deeper, it would have severed one of the main blood vessels and it would have resulted in probable death.

Mr Ryan claimed that he was cut with a blade but no weapon was found during the Garda investigation and Mr Cleary later admitted that he used a broken bottle in the assault.

Garda Paula Sheehan explained that Mr Ryan managed to make his way to his parents-in-laws home before he was brought to Mayo University Hospital from treatment. CCTV footage in Ballyhaunis showed that Mr Cleary entered the Supermacs restaurant on Main Street shortly after 9.30pm and went to the toilets where he washed blood from his hands before leaving. Staff of the restaurant said that when they inspected the toilets there was blood on the sink and the door and handles.

Left jurisdiction

GARDA Sheehan said that the matter was reported to gardaí on the following morning but Mr Cleary had left the jurisdiction for Northern Ireland. On June 10, 2020 he was discovered lying in the back passenger footwell of a car which was stopped by gardaí outside Ballyhaunis.

The court heard that Mr Ryan claimed he said good night to Mr Cleary and as they were walking away he was tripped up by the defendant. He told gardaí that there had been no bad words between them during the night or before and he pleaded with Mr Cleary that he did not want to die. He added he got two or three kicks to his head while he was on the ground before taking off.

Patrick Reynolds, counsel for the prosecution, told the court that Mr Ryan suffered scarring to his face measuring seven to 12 cm in length behind his left ear. A report from Dr Brian O'Callaghan stated that Mr Ryan was profoundly fortunate to escape with his life.

In a victim impact statement from Mr Ryan he stated he thought he was going to die while on the ground and the memory will never leave him. He said he has slash wounds on his face and he struggles going out as people remark about his scars and having his face disfigured has affected his confidence. He claimed the attack has turned him into a nervous person and the trauma has made him anxious.

Mr Cleary has previous convictions for motoring offences but has been in custody since April 2, 2024 after he was arrested on foot of a bench warrant for failing to appear in court in February.

Mr Niall Flynn, counsel for Mr Cleary, said his client was 21 at the time and had consumed a lot of alcohol on the day in question and accepted the attack was unprovoked.

He said a psychological report stated that he is considered to have a low range of intellectual functioning and anger is an emotional problem. He said his anger issues seem to stem from the death of Mr Cleary's father in a road traffic accident which his client witnessed when he was a young man.

Mr Flynn asked Judge Garavan to take into account his early plea as there were no independent witnesses to the assault but accepted he will receive a custodial sentence.

Savage assault

JUDGE Garavan described what happened to Mr Ryan as a savage assault which resulted in five lacerations to the victim and he has been left with scarring. He said that Mr Cleary was fortunate that he was not before the Central Criminal Court on a charge of murder.

He said that Mr Cleary fled in a cowardly way to avoid justice and he did not engage properly with the Probation Service and did not take their advice and his dealings with them were far from satisfactory.

Judge Garavan said the assault was at the higher end of the scale but also accepted he had no similar acts of violence in the past.

He imposed a four year sentence but suspended the last 12 months of the sentence for a three period period and told Mr Cleary that he should realise he is lucky not to be receiving a longer sentence. Judge Garavan ordered that Mr Cleary engage with the Probation Service for 12 months post release and backdated the sentence to April 2, 2024.