Witness tells court he saw Kyle Hayes standing on and punching man outside club

A witness has told the trial of five-time All-Ireland-winning Limerick hurler Kyle Hayes, who is charged with assault causing harm to a man outside a nightclub, that he saw the hurler and others standing on and punching the alleged victim on the street.

Kyle Hayes (25), of Ballyashea, Kildimo, Co Limerick, is on trial before Limerick Circuit Criminal Court charged with assault causing harm to Cillian McCarthy (24) on October 28th, 2019.

Mr Hayes is also charged with two counts of violent disorder on the same date. He denies all three charges.

Craig Cosgrave (24), of Caherelly, Grange, Co Limerick, is charged with one count of committing violent disorder inside the Icon nightclub on the same date. He too denies the charge.

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Following legal argument in the case on Friday, Judge Dermot Sheehan told the jury it did not have to concern itself any longer with another accused in the case, Jai Chaudri (22), of Carheeny, Kildimo, who was before the court on one count of violent disorder and one count of assault causing harm to Mr McCarthy.

Christopher Heelan, a native of Caherdavin, told the court that on the night in question he saw Mr Hayes “pacing up and down and looking quite angry” outside the Icon nightclub on Upper Denmark Street in Limerick city.

The court has also seen CCTV footage allegedly showing Mr Hayes and others assaulting Mr McCarthy on the dance floor of the club earlier, as well as footage of Mr Hayes and others allegedly following Mr McCarthy out of the nightclub.

The court heard Mr Hayes warned Mr McCarthy – who inside the club was chatting to two girls he knew – to “stay the f*** away” from the girls, and shouted at him: “Do you know who the f*** I am?”

Mr Heelan in his evidence said he was walking along the street outside the club in the early hours of the morning and came upon his friend Cillian McCarthy, whose face and clothes were covered in blood.

He said he tried to intervene when “a number of men” surrounded Mr McCarthy and their friend Craig Cosgrave and started assaulting the two of them while they were “on the ground in the foetal position”.

“It looked to me that, at times, he [Cillian] was being stood on,” Mr Heelan said.

The witness – who identified Mr Hayes in court as being involved in the attack – said he saw the Limerick hurler “punch Cillian McCarthy on the [ground] and stand on him as well”.

Mr Heelan said the group of males “departed the scene” when gardaí arrived.

“I waited with Cillian until an ambulance arrived, he seemed to be very weak and bloodied, his T-shirt and jumper were covered in blood.”

Earlier, Aislinn Condon, a primary schoolteacher, told the court Mr Hayes had approached Craig Cosgrave, who was in her company, at a bar in the nightclub and was asking him why he was dancing with another girl who was seeing a friend of Mr Hayes at the time.

Ms Condon said Mr Cosgrave tried to explain to Mr Hayes that he was just friends with the young woman but Mr Hayes didn’t appear to be happy with this explanation.

Asked by prosecution counsel John O’Sullivan if she felt it was a “threatening scenario”, Ms Condon replied: “Yes.”

She agreed with Mr Hayes’s barrister, senior counsel Brian McInerney, that if one of her friends was seeing someone and they were being flirted with by a male she and her friends would tell the male to “butt out”, and that if he didn’t comply, they might use “unparliamentary language” to tell him.

The trial continues on Tuesday.