All-Ireland winning Clare hurler Niall Gilligan “lost it” when he hit a 12-year-old child “multiple times” with a stick in 2023, the State has said in a closing speech.
At Ennis Circuit Court on Monday, Sarah Jane Comerford said Mr Gilligan “lost control” when he “punished” the boy for the damage caused to his Jamaica Inn hostel property in Sixmilebridge, Co Clare.
Mr Gilligan, who was selected as an All Star during his inter-county career, denies a charge of assault causing harm to the boy with a stick at the hostel on October 5th, 2023.
Defence counsel Patrick Whyms said Mr Gilligan was in no way trying to suggest he was entitled to punish the boy as suggested and said the boy’s injuries “are clearly regrettable”.
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Mr Whyms said Mr Gilligan “didn’t know that he was dealing with a child and did not create this situation”. Mr Gilligan “was at the end of his tether” over the vandalism to a vacant property he was trying to sell, the barrister said.
Putting forward the defence of reasonable force, Mr Whyms said Mr Gilligan was at the hostel on the night of October 5th “in the dark and believed that he was under siege”.
“Believing himself under threat and needing to protect himself and his property, Niall Gilligan needs to make an instant decision and so we are here,” said Mr Whyms, instructed by solicitor Daragh Hassett.
To the jury, he said: “Did Niall Gilligan use such force as was reasonable in the circumstances as he believed them to be? If he did then no offence was committed.”
Mr Whyms said an undisplaced fracture to the finger is “the only fracture in this case”.
Earlier Ms Comerford, instructed by State solicitor for Clare Aisling Casey, said this is a “story of a man who lost his cool”.
“Instead of picking up the boy after he slipped and bringing him out to his car and driving him home and telling his parents, he hit him and lost it and he was angry and frustrated,” she said.
Ms Comerford said Mr Gilligan “lost control and punished the boy for the damage and inconvenience caused to his property on a morning when he had to clean up human faeces and urine from his property”.
She said the evidence of the boy and his friend “is credible and can be relied upon to the high standard beyond reasonable doubt”. Of course the boy knew it was not okay to explore a building without permission, to let off fire extinguishers and to remove keys, she said.
She said a medical report said the boy suffered a head injury, loss of consciousness, bowel incontinence and injuries to his arms and shoulders.
“He lost consciousness for a while. He must have been hit multiple times in order to have sustained as many injuries as he did in the various locations you can see in the photos taken on the night and following day,” she said.
Self-defence should not be available to Mr Gilligan as a defence due to the level of force he used, she said.
Judge Francis Comerford commenced his charge to the jury on Monday. The jury will begin deliberating after the judge completes his charge.
